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The Horse Book 



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A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE AMERICAN 

HORSE BREEDING INDUSTRY AS 

ALLIED TO THE FARM 



t't'fi'f'i'i'i't'f'i'i' 



By J. H. S. JOHNSTONE 

Assistant Editor of "The Breeder's Gazette* 



t'i'i'i'i'i'i'i'^»>i'^ 



Chicago 

Sanders Publishing Company 

1908 



|L!BRASY of 00N2HE8S| 

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COPYRIGHT 1907. 

SANDERS PUBLISHING CO. 

All rights reserved. 



PUBLISHERS' PEEFACE 

In the year 1885 Mr. J. H. Sanders, founder 
of Tlie Breeder's Gazette, brought out a little 
volume entitled ''Horse Breeding," which for 
a period of nearly twenty-five years has 
stood as the standard authority on the subject 
to which it was devoted. It passed through 
many editions in this country, besides being 
translated and republished in Germany. The 
"whirligig of timei," however, has now ren- 
dered it desirable that the old work be sup- 
planted by something more modern; hence the 
appearance of this volmne at this time. 

Since the death of Mr. Sanders Sr. in 1899 
the heavy end of the editorial work in connec- 
tion with the horse department of The Breed- 
er's Gazette has been carried by Mr. James H. 
S. Johnstone, former editor of the Oiicago 
"Horseman." In his capacity as Assistant 
Editor of The Gazette during the past eight 
years, he has had exceptional opportunities for 
perfecting his already broad practical knowl- 
edge of the holrse. It was believed, therefore, 
that no writer upon this topic in the United 
States at this date was better equipped to un- 
dertake this task. 

It will be noted that in the preparation of 
this volume no effoi-t has been made to deal 
with the horse as relates to the race course. 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

Tlie work is designed primarily to be of prac- 
tical value to those who have in view the pro- 
duction of the types of horses in general re- 
quest upon the farms and in the market places 
of the United States. Furthermore, it has not 
been deemed advisable to encroach to any ap- 
preciable extent upon the special province of 
the veterinary surgeon. It is submitted, there- 
fore, as an aid to those who are engaged in the 
breeding and handling of the eveiy-day horse of 
commerce; and in that field it is believed that 
**The Horse Book" will meet an actual need. 
The author desires us in this connection to 
express his special indebtednes to the present 
Managing Editor of The Breeder's Gazette, M'r. 
Alvin H. Sanders, for valuable suggestions in 
the preparation and revision of the manuscript. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PART I. 

Chapter I. — Origin of the Horse 7 

Chapter II. — Heredity as a Force 13 

Chapter III. — The Stallion — Desirable Points and Faults 21 

Chapter IV.- — Embryology — Impregnation — Conception 35 

Chapter V. — Management of the Stallion 48 

Chapter VI. — Management of Brood Mares and Foals 70 

Chapter VII.— Fitting for Sale — Market Classes — Trade Terms. 108 
Chapter VIII. — Fitting for Show and Showing 131 

PART II.— THE BREEDS. 

What is a Breed ? 149 

DRAFT TYPES. 
The French Group. — Percheron, Boulonnais, Nlvernais, Bre- 

tonnais, Ardennais and Mulassiere 154-165 

The Belgian 166 

The British Group. — Clydesdale, Shire and Suffolk 170-183 

The Light Breeds. — Thoroughbred, Arabian, Standard-bred, 

Morgan, Orloff 186-198 

The Coach Breeds. — French Coacher, German Coacher, 

Cleveland Bay and Yorkshire Coacher 197-212 

Hackney and Hackney Pony 213 

The Saddle Breeds.— Five-gaited Saddler, Three-gaited 

Saddler, Hunter, Polo Ponies 220-229 

The Pony Breeds. — Shetland, Welsh 230-233 

Range Horses 234 

Three famous Stallions — McQueen, Holland Major and 

Brilliant 238 

PART III. 
HYGIENE — UNSOUNDNESS — DISEASE 242 

APPENDIX. 

Stallion lien laws of all states and territories where such 

legislation has been enacted 272 

List of stud books recognized by the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture 298 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page. ^ 

Extremes meet Frontispiece 

Restored fossil skeleton of Eohippus Facing 8 

Asiatic White Ass 9 

Prjevalski's Horse 10 / 

Burchell Zebra . .- 11 

Skeleton of pulling draft horse 27 ' 

Breeding Hopples 65' 

Mares and foals in pasture 93 ' 

Finished drafters ready to ship Ill 

The Armour champion draft geldings 114, 

A Mulassiere stallion 155'- 

A Percheron type — Imported 160 

A Percheron type — Bred on the Western Range 162,, 

Type of the Boulonnais 164. 

A Nivernais type 165- 

An Ardennais type 165, 

Type of the Bretonnais drafter 165/ 

A Belgian type , 166 ■' 

A rugged Clydesdale 173 . 

A Quality Clydesdale. — Type popular in Scotland 176 

A Quality Shire 178 

A Shire type popular in England 179. 

Shire mare and foal 180 

A Suffolk type 183 

A typical Thoroughbred 186 

Lou Dillon, 1 :58 i/o 190 , 

Dan Patch, 1 :55 191 

Famous sire of roadsters and speed 192 

Trotting-bred heavy harness horse 193 

French Coacher. — Trotting type 202/ 

French Coacher. — Carrossier type 204 - 

A German Coacher 206- 

Yorkshire Coach stallion 211 , 

Hackney. — Under 15.2 hands 213 

Hackney. — Over 15.2 hands 214/ 

A small Hackney Pony 218 

Hackney Pony. — Medium size 219, 

Five-gaited Saddle stallion 220 

A five-gaited Saddler on parade 222 

Three-gaited saddle horse 226- 

Heavy-weight hunter 227 

A light-weight hunter 228 . 

Colorado-bred polo ponies 229 

The Celtic Pony. — An aboriginal type - 230 

Group of Shetland Ponies 231 

Scotch Highland Garron 232 

A champion Welsh Pony 233/ 

Band of Range Horses 234 

Cayuse or Indian pony 235 

Brilliant 239 

McQueen in his 23d year 240 



vi 



PART I. 

CHAPTER L 
ORIGIN OF THE HORSE. 

Every animal as we see it today is the result 
of a long and tedious process of evolution. 
Time, geologically speaking, is measured in 
ages, and as we find the first definitely accepted 
ancestor of the horse preserved in fossil form 
in the Eocene formation of the rocks we may, 
according to the general belief, place the date 
of this ancestor somewhere about three and one- 
half millions of years ago. Succeeding and 
higher forms persist through the newer forma- 
tions in the earth's crust until we reach the 
Prehistoric and Historic horses, the remains of 
the former being found upon the earth's surface 
and the story of the earliest of the latter being 
preserved in rude sculpture. None of the geo- 
logical or Prehistoric prototypes of the horse 
was large, the greatest height having been prob- 
ably about 13 hands. It is impossible to trace 
the descent of the horse without the use of sci- 
entific terms, and for such use I crave indul- 
gence. 

Ancestor to all hoofed or ungulate animals is 
the Phenacodus primaevus, which has therefore 
been established as the progenitor of the horse. 

7 



8 THE HOESE BOOK. 

This was a small animal having five digits or 
toes on each of its four limbs. Its second, third 
and fourth toes were furnished with hoof-like 
protection and its fossil remains are found in 
Europe as well as in America. It lived in 
swampy regions and the subsequent hardening 
of the ground rendered necessary the evolution 
of a foot of the type possessed by the horse of 
today. 

Strangely enough, though there were no 
horses on the American continent when it was 
discovered by the Spaniards, the genus was 
evolved here and is believed to have crossed into 
Asia over ground that at some remote period 
connected the most northwesterly portions of 
our continent with the most easterly confines 
of Siberia. Profs. Marsh of Yale and Osborn 
of the American Museum of Natural History 
have been chiefly instrumental in tracing the 
geological history of the horse. 

Next in line of descent to Phenacodus is 
Eohippus, which name may be translated as 
meaning the dawn or beginning of the horse. 
This was about the size of a fox, about 11 inches 
high, and in it the first toe had entirely disap- 
peared and the fifth was represented only in 
vestigial form in the hind legs. Protorohippus 
followed, probably about 18 inches high, much 
like its predecessor, but lacking the fifth toe on 
all its legs. Orohippus following presented an 
appearance closer to that of the horse and had 




Restored fossil skeleton of Eohippus, similar in size to 
whippet dog, eleven inches high 

Photo from American Muscudi of Natural History 



OBIGIN OF THE HORSE. 9 

four toes in front, the fourth disappearing, and 
three only behind. In Mesohippus there are but 
three toes, the fourth being represented by a 
splint. In Miohippus there are also three toes 
and a very rudimentary splint, the second and 
fourth toes disappearing, thus leaving this an- 
cestor of the horse to walk on his third or middle 
toe. In Protohippus the second and fourth toes 
are smaller still. In Pliohippus these toes are 
represented by sj^lints, which in a still more 
rudimentary form exist to this day. 

In Pliohippus we see the first real soliped or 
solid-footed animal in this descent, and the ani- 
mal was distmctly of a horselike type. Thus 
may we trace the evolution of the one-toed horse 
from his five-toed ancestor. Besides the splint 
bones we have in further evidence of this evolu- 
tion from a soft-footed ancestor the footskin 
which entirely covers the soft structures of the 
horse's foot from the horny box which protects 
them — the hoof, which was evolved to withstand 
the resistance of the hardened ground. There 
are various other proofs of the descent as out- 
lined, but these need not be dealt with here. 
There are some other intermediate links, but 
the line followed gives the main steps in the 
evolution of the horse as arranged by Marsh. 

Pliohippus was prevalent in all the great con- 
tinents. How the horse was extinguished in 
America we do not know. It was, however, in 
Asia south of the Altai Mountains in Mongolia, 



10 THE HORSE BOOK. 

and directly in the line of the supposed migra- 
tion that what is considered to be the wild type 
of horse was discovered by Prjevalsky, a Eus- 
sian traveler. Since 1881 several specimens of 
this species have been brought into captivity 
and its habits studied in the region to which it 
is indigenous. This species attains a height of 
from 12 to 13 hands. Between Pliohippus and 
the Prehistoric horse there is a gap in the line 
of descent differently filled by various authori- 
ties. It was at this period that the genus 
branched into the three species now represented 
by the horse, the ass and the zebra. 

Of the Prehistoric horse we read the record 
in his fossilized bones found in caves, left there 
by the men of the Older Stone Age, the Newer 
Stone Age and the Bronze Age. Horses seem 
then to have been used only as human food and 
it cannot be determined when they were first 
made subservient to the will of man to carry 
him or to work. Some of the Prehistoric horses 
partook largely of the character of the ass and 
it is probable that Prjevalsky 's horse corre- 
sponds quite closely to some of the later forms 
of that step in equine evolution or forms a sort 
of a connecting link between the Prehistoric and 
the Historic races. 

Scientifically the horse, the ass and the zebra 
form what is known as the genus Equus. The 
Nubian Wild Ass is the nearest the original 
type of ass and from it all our domesticated 



ORIGIN OP THE HOESE. 11 

asses are descended. The Mountain Zebra oc- 
cupies the same position for that species. Spe- 
cific differences between the horse and the ass 
are many, but the chief perhaps are that the 
ass has but five lumbar vertebrae, the horse 
six; the ass has chestnuts on two legs, the horse 
on all four; the ass brays, the horse neighs. 
Position is accorded Prjevalsky's horse as de- 
fined in part because it has only five lumbar 
vertebrae, yet its other characteristics place it 
among the true horses. 

Crossing is freely accomplished among mem- 
bers of the three species of this genus. The re- 
sult of such crossing is termed a hybrid. The 
most common is between the horse and the ass 
and this mating appears to have been made at 
a very early date, though in which direction we 
do not know. Progeny of the male ass and 
mare is called a mule, that of a stallion and a 
female ass a hinny. Progeny begotten by the 
male zebra from mares is now comparatively 
common and is termed zebroid. In all cases 
these hybrids are absolutely sterile. Allega- 
tions to the contrary have been made, but proof 
without flaw or loophole is so far wanting. 

War and the chase having been, beyond that 
of food for man, the primal uses to which the 
horse was put, and as improvement would 
naturally follow domestication, we must look 
in Asia or North Africa for the first advances 
toward the strength to carry men and later in 



12 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

speed. The Arabian, now said to be of North 
African origin, is probably the oldest estab- 
lished type of improved horse, his ancient pre- 
eminence being due to the military prowess of 
the peoples erstwhile inhabiting a wide but ill- 
defined area in Eastern Asia. Westward in 
Europe horses grew larger and when the 
Saracenic invasions brought the famous clouds 
of eastern warriors under the crescent of 
Islam into France and Spain, the strains in- 
terlocked and the foundation for the modern 
equine superstructure was mortised together. 
From Spain Cortez brought the first horses 
ever landed on American soil when he began his 
romantic conquest of Mexico, on March 24, 1519. 
Conditions proved ideal for their multiplication 
and to the mounts of the mere handful of Span- 
ish cavalry which followed the fortunes of the 
Great Conquistador may be traced the inception 
of horse breeding on this continent. 



CHAPTER II. 

HEREDITY AS A FORCE. 

Heredity is the biological force which tends 
to enable parents to transmit their physical and 
psychological characteristics to their oif spring. 
In improved domestic animals this force has 
little strength of itself. As a factor in success- 
ful breeding it is not so powerful as environ- 
ment. Unless this force is properly directed 
and suitably environed its effects in improve- 
ment are negligible. The natural tendency of 
all improved live stock left to itself is toward 
degeneration, not improvement. Hence in con- 
sidering the amelioration of animals we must 
pay due heed to the breeder's personal equation. 
One man succeeds and another fails, both using 
the same foundation stock. A very complex 
problem is faced by the breeder. There are no 
hard and fast rules by which success may be at- 
tained. Natural opposition, always trending 
downward, must be overcome. Superior indi- 
viduality and good pedigree are necessary to 
the production of high-class animals, but they 
are of comparatively small value unless they 
are surrounded by proper conditions and the 
forces of heredity are directed aright. The 
longer I live and the more I see of men and 

13 



14 THE HORSE BOOK. 

horses the less weight do I grant to heredity 
and the more to environment and the personal 
equation. 

Heredity has been supposed to fix type. It 
does with certain conditions and it does not 
without. Wild animals are of truly fixed type ; 
improved domestic animals are not. The Nu- 
bian lion is the same today as he was 1,000 
years ago; he will be the same tomorrow and 
1,000 years hence, if the conditions under which 
he lives remain the same. There has been no 
admixture of alien strain in his blood. He is 
not a composite and therefore he is immune 
from variation, the law of which no one under- 
stands, the operation of which no one can fore- 
see, which is sometimes in advance, generally 
in retrogression. 

All improved breeds are of recent origin and 
all are composites. The good, the bad and the 
indifferent are to be seen in them all. If we 
accept the types of the wild animals as fixed, 
then we must admit that the types of improved 
animals are not fixed. Compare any of our im- 
proved breeds with the wild goose or the buffalo 
for an illustration. Admitting that heredity is 
one of the fundamental principles with which 
the breeder has to deal, we must grant that any 
animal is an aggregation of the essential ele- 
ments of all his ancestors, the influence of these 
ancestors decreasing as they become more re- 
mote. Nevertheless the tendency to revert to 



HEREDITY AS A FORCE. 15 

the characteristics of some ancestor is uncon- 
querable and this atavism, as it is called, must 
be reckoned with always as well as variation. 
These tendencies must of necessity be met with 
more frequently in improved breeds of recent 
and composite origin and varying environment 
than they are in wild animals which have bred 
without alien blood and without change of sur- 
roundings for an indefinite period of time. 
Hence improved animals bred and selected for 
many years with one fixed object in view must 
more strongly transmit their characteristics to 
their offspring than those which have resulted 
from hap-hazard matings. 

Natural selection is governed by the inexora- 
ble law of the survival of the fittest. Matings 
of improved stock are often ordered at random, 
without due regard to true fitness, and be it 
said for the great mass of breeders compara- 
tively seldom with a definite ideal in view. Even 
the greatest breeders have never collectively 
directed their efforts along exactly the same 
line. Therefore we have types and types within 
the same breed. An inexorable law, always 
without change, has ordered the selection of 
parents in the wild races. Crossed this way 
and that within itself, an improved breed pre- 
sents sometimes as many types as there are 
great breeders and the great majority of the 
animals within the breed can not be called typ- 
ical at all — they lack the touch of the master 



16 THE HOESE BOOK. 

hand. There has been continuity of effort only 
here and there. Environment has been vastly 
different. Thus must we reach the inevitable 
conclusion that the personal equation and en- 
vironment, as directors of the forces of hered- 
ity, are the chief factors in domestic animal 
breeding, while the propagation of the wild ani- 
mals is governed by an inexorable law which 
knows no change. The cases are not similar. 

All this forms a condition, not a theory. 
There is nothing in it to discourage any one 
from undertaking the breeding of improved do- 
mestic animals. Its lesson simply is that when 
he undertakes that work the breeder must make 
up his mind to face a problem full of complex- 
ity in which the natural tendency is downward 
rather than upward. Too much- stress has hith- 
erto been laid on the force of heredity, too little 
on the personal equation and environment. 
The travesties on our improved breeds which 
one sees on every hand are proof enough of this 
contention. 

Size in draft horses and action in high-step- 
pers are soon lost whenever the environment 
which produced these characteristics is changed. 
The Percheron, the Clydesdale or the Shire al- 
lowed to breed indiscriminately on the range 
ceases after a time to be a draft horse and be- 
comes a range horse, because his range environ- 
ment is stronger than the draft inheritance be- 
queathed to him. On the other hand we may 



HEREDITY AS A FOECE. 17. 

take the instance of the range-bred polo pony as 
proving the converse of this proposition. Com- 
mon range mares are mated with Thoroughbred 
stallions and the foals are suitably environed. 
In this way we breed the best polo ponies on 
earth. Allowed to run on the range with their 
mothers these foals, not subject to the environ- 
ment which makes polo ponies, develop into 
common rangers. 

Approaching the problem of what heredity 
will do for us, parents will transmit a measure 
of their joint individuality to their offspring. 
Thus if we mate a stallion and a mare both pro- 
nouncedly drooping in the rump, the foal will 
almost to a surety exhibit that faulty conforma- 
tion. Hence it follows that when either parent 
has some undesirable characteristic great care 
should be exercised to select the other very 
strong in that particular point. These undesir- 
able factors in conformation seem to be trans- 
mitted with greater force and certainty than 
those which we most desire. If we use stallions 
and mares of low grade we are merely inviting 
the production of doubly inferior progeny. 
Heredity is not altogether impartial in this mat- 
ter. The best stallion will only beget a certain 
proportion of his offspring good. The inferior 
stallion will beget jDrogeny, a large majority of 
which will be bad — this of course presupposing 
that the mares will average with the horse. If 



18 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

the mares are inferior to the inferior stallion 
there can be no hope of salvation by his use. 

If, as has been insisted, the sire and dam had 
each a set share in contributing to the inheri- 
tance of the offspring, then breeding would be 
a business of rule of thumb — which it is not. 
We do not know how these respective shares are 
arranged. What we do know is that the joint 
individuality in varying proportions is trans- 
mitted to the offspring more or less definitely 
and this supplies the reason for the selection of 
high-class parents as the foundation for the 
further work of development by suitable envi- 
ronment. In this discussion I have not taken 
into consideration the transmission of equine 
speed, as that is an elusive spark, is not trans- 
mitted as conformation is and has no bearing 
on the breeding of animals other than the race 
horse, though subject in all ways to the influ- 
ence of environment. 

Admitting that a horse is a composite of all 
his ancestors, a long pedigree is desirable only 
insofar as it shows that these ancestors were 
good individuals and typical of the breed con- 
cerned. A pedigree showing a heterogeneous 
mass of individuality is of doubtful value. In 
an animal possessing such a pedigree the ten- 
dency will be to breed unevenly for the reason 
that his ancestors were not even. The force of 
heredity is weakened in such cases because of 



HEREDITY AS A FORCE. 19 

the diversity of directions in wliich it has been 
employed. 

To invoke the aid of heredity then as an 
ameliorating agent we must select breeding 
stock with lines of good ancestors behind them, 
as well as good individuality in them. In such 
the especial type desired must be more firmly 
fixed than in those which have been promiscu- 
ously bred within the breed or crossed out of it 
altogether. The inheritance has been intensi- 
fied in the one, diversified in the other. Taking 
advantage of this intensification and subjecting 
its results to proper environment we may pro- 
ceed on our upward way. It is the intensified 
inheritance of the pure-bred which triumphs 
over the diversified inheritance of the scrub and 
thus enables us to grade up our stock. Simi- 
larly it is the diversified inheritance of the 
grade which precludes his success as a sire, even 
though he apparently possesses the character- 
istics of the pure-bred. 

I have conceived, as illustrating the relative 
values of heredity, the personal equation and 
environment the simile of a telephone system. 
The wire strung between two poles may repre- 
sent heredity. If it is struck by lightning it will 
conduct the undirected force as it always has 
conducted it and always will — no one knows 
whither. Environ this same wire with tele- 
phone apparatus at each end, direct the elec- 
tricity in its proper volume and proportion and 



20 THE HORSE BOOK. 

the result is a marvel of achievement. The con- 
clusion of the whole matter is that heredity of 
itself will do little for us if we do not direct 
and environ aright the results accruing from its 
limited force. The elements of success tem- 
poral or moral must proceed from within the 
man essaying to achieve it. The breeder who 
succeeds takes the forces and the elements he 
finds at his hand and directs them and sur- 
rounds them to the attainment of a fixed ideal 
which can be correctly formed only by careful 
thought lighted by the lamp of experience and 
reached only by a conquering course over obsta- 
cles great and small. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE STALLION— DESIRABLE POINTS 
AND FAULTS. 

In selecting a stallion to breed from we must 
remember always that ' it is the handwork of 
man from which we have to choose. Therefore 
if we desire to pick out one which may reason- 
ably be expected to transmit his conformation 
we must look for one which presents those char- 
acteristics which have been favored of all men 
ever since the work of improvement was begun. 
There is for this reason one quality which I 
count easily first in betokening promise of pre- 
potence, and that is a good outlook — a high- 
headed, bold, noble masculine presence. All 
the ancient writers refer to the crest of the stal- 
lion. The Bible clothes his neck with thunder 
and makes him sniff the battle from afar. The 
oldest sculptures show him as a stallion should 
be in this regard. I never knew a stallion with 
the head and neck of a mare to be a good 
breeder. The bold outlook is possessed by the 
winning show horses. It is possessed by their 
sires. Men have bred for it, striven for it, even, 
as history teaches, fought for it during thou- 
sands of years. The horse that shows it is like- 
ly to have it by right of inheritance — a reason- 

21 



22 THE HORSE BOOK. 

ably fixed characteristic. I mark it the most 
important of all when it is accompanied by 
soundness and desirable conformation in other 
points. 

A lot of stock phrases have been trotted out 
from time immemorial to govern the selection 
of a horse. Some of them need puncturing. 
One of the most glibly quoted is ''no foot, no 
horse." Experience of later day methods has 
suggested another axiom to me which should 
gain as wide a vogue — "no top, no price." A 
horse may be the soundest on earth and he will 
not bring a good price unless he has a good top 
to go with his soundness. Both top and bottom 
are required. Bear in mind this new proverb 
as well as the old one. No one should buy an 
unsound horse, but neither should he buy a 
sound one if he has nothing else to recommend 
him. 

We have also heard much about hereditary 
unsoundness. I have never seen a foal unsound 
at birth, but I have seen hundreds ruined by 
faulty environment. What we must fight shy of 
primarily is formation so faulty as to predis- 
pose to unsoundness. A blemish which is the 
result of an accident pure and simple and aris- 
ing on a normal joint, for instance, will not be 
transmitted. Narrow round hocks, from their 
insufficient carrying capacity, are predisposed 
to bone and bog spavins. Sickle hocks invite 
curbs. Short straight pasterns and cramped 



THE STALLION. 23 

hoof -heads go with sidebones, and so on through 
a list which need not be farther detailed here. 
Faulty surroundings in youth are the main 
cause for most of the unsoundnesses we see in 
horses. 

It has been maintained that the stock term 
'Equality" has never yet been properly defined. 
My definition of quality is "refinement of 
fibre. ' ' Letting that go for what it is worth, the 
fact remains that we recognize quality in a gen- 
eral way by refinement of conformation and tex- 
ture of hair. Whether the hair dominates the 
quality or the quality unseen dominates the hair 
I am not prepared to say. Let us call the rela- 
tion reciprocal. We have all heard a lot about 
the clean flat ivory-like bone of some horses and 
the meaty, coarse, spongy, round bone of others 
— ^beautiful quality in the former, no quality at 
all in the latter. To the first is joined a good 
foot, to the second a poor one, and there is a 
good reason for this, even if some of the terms 
and beliefs quoted have no foundation in fact. 

There is no such thing as flat bone, as the 
term is used in the horse. The canon bones are 
round. It is the tendon that gives the flat ap- 
pearance. The bone in the quality horse is not 
necessarily stronger than the bone in the other 
horse. The roundness of the leg is produced by 
the thickness of the skin and the presence of 
tissues about the tendon. The Colorado Experi- 
ment Station has found the bone of a common 



24 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

ranger far stronger than that of a well bred, 
high-quality native horse. 

Texture of the hoof is dominated absolutely 
by the character of the hair on the coronet. The 
hoof is secreted by papillae the same as the 
hair (also tubes), and in composition is a series 
of tubes glued together by matter very largely 
the same as the dandruff exfoliated by the skin. 
If the hair is coarse the papillae secreting the 
hoof will be coarse also, the structure of the 
hoof being therefore comparable to the hair we 
see on the legs and coronet. The larger the 
tubes in the hoof, the larger is the space between 
them to be filled with the connecting matter. 
The more coarse, brittle and curly the hair 
about the coronet, the more objectionable will 
be the formation of the horny hoof. The finest 
hair known in the entire equine family is on the 
leg of the Thoroughbred. At speed the foot of 
the racer sustains an impact with the ground 
that would instantly wreck the foot of a draft 
horse. 

Quality, even if an intangible attribute, is in- 
grained in the horse, but it is not always recog-. 
nized when it is seen. Many a rough looking 
seemingly qualityless colt in the field exhibits 
the most beautiful quality in the show ring. 
Much of it is often the result of proper environ- 
ment. Quality is a word to conjure with and 
one, be it said, about which a measureless 
amount of buncombe has been preached. Too 



THE STALLION. 25 

often it has been hidden behind to cover up a 
degree of ultra refinement which is far more to 
be shunned than a tendency as much in the 
other direction. Every undersized runty little 
fine-boned stallion is bragged up for his quality, 
as though that was some sort of an excuse for 
him. Now bear this in mind : if a horse has real 
quality he has it all over him, not merely in his 
legs. Quality counts for much in a horse that 
is big enough, but watch out that it is real qual- 
ity and not weakness masquerading under that 
high-sounding title. 

Another stock saying, which has been handed 
down for more than a generation here to the 
everlasting detriment of the horse, is that his 
foot should be deeply concave. It is only neces- 
sary to consult old papers and catalogues to 
learn how much stress has been laid on this er- 
roneous teaching. The blacksmith has appar- 
ently taken advantage of this belief by invaria- 
bly thinning the sole and cutting away the frog 
and so assisting in making the foot concave. 
Mark this fact well : the foot that is deeply con- 
cave — and naturally it is rare — is a thing to be 
avoided. The blacksmith should never be al- 
lowed to put his knife on sole or frog except to 
trim away ragged portions. What we want is 
a strong, deep heel, a thick frog, a deep, stout 
wall and as thick a sole as possible. If the sole 
is concave it must be thin, for there is only so 
much space in the foot anyway, and we need 



26 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

as much thickness of sole as we can get. The 
low, weak heel and meager frog is that which 
we must avoid. 

The horny hoof is joined to the inner struc- 
tures at the coronary band and by the horny 
and sensitive laminae, some lining the horny 
hoof, some rising from the footskin. These two 
sets of laminae are interlaced together and they 
are again interlocked so that in the ordinary 
foot there are something like 750,000 points of 
connection between the laminae, holding the 
hoof in its place. The junction at the coronet 
is a weak one. The interlocking of the laminae 
practically holds the horny box in its place. The 
whole column of the leg rests on the compara- 
tively small coffin bone in the center of the hoof. 
The coffin bone in turn rests upon the fatty 
frog which overlies the horny frog and the sole. 
The junction betwen the sole and the wall is 
not a strong one. This supplies the reason why 
the sole which is thick and never looks con- 
cave is to be preferred, because of the greater 
strength of its connection with the wall — hence 
the blacksmith should never be allowed to use 
anything but the rasp in leveling the foot to 
take the shoe. The bars are merely an exten- 
sion of the wall, designed to keep the heels 
spread and should never be mutilated, in fact 
should never be touched with the knife. 

"Begin at the ground" is another dictum 
which has been repeated parrotlike from year 



THE STALLION. 27 

to year. Don't. Stand off rather and take a 
good look at the stallion. If he looks like what 
is wanted and has the right kind of an out- 
look to him, glance at his back and quarter, 
loin and flank. If he is short in his back, strong 
in his loin, full quartered, has plenty of space 
to take care of his dinner, and his rib is long 
and well sprung out from the backbone, then in- 
spect his feet and legs. 

Width in front and behind is essential, but 
the legs should not be stuck on one at each 
corner. A horse made that way always rolls 
in front and goes wide behind. The legs should 
be set well under the body and heavily muscled 
outside. This heavy muscling gives the proper 
sort of width. The quarters should be round, 
the tailhead well elevated, the lower thighs well 
filled, carrying the width of the upper quarters 
well down to the gaskins, into which it should 
round off nicely and then taper to the hock. The 
forearms should bulge prominently forward 
and outward and the muscle above and forward 
of the elbow should be heavy and the chest 
prominent and deep. The neck should spring 
well from a pair of sloping shoulders, curve 
abruptly to the crest and then still upward to 
the ears. The lower line of the neck should 
curve outward and then inward to the throttle 
which should be as fine as possible for beauty's 
sake. A horse is a poorly constructed animal at 
the best. Such an enormous weight as the head 



28 THE HORSE BOOK. 

borne on the end of such a long and weak bony 
structure as the neck is a poor piece of mechani- 
cal engineering, only partially corrected by the 
elastic ligament which stretches from the spines 
of the backbone at the withers to the poll. If 
the neck curves upward well and the bracing of 
the muscles on the underside is adequate it will 
be easier for the horse to keep his head where 
it should be. Short stubbed necks are never 
desirable. 

The ear should be reasonably long, not coarse 
and never drooping. The head should be wide 
between the eyes, straight in its forward outline 
and of moderate length. The muzzle is hardly 
ever too fine in any breed and the jaws should 
be of depth proportionate to the other parts. 
The more prominent the eye the better. Over 
all the head should be lean and bony, and it 
should be joined to the column of the neck so 
that the horse may hold it away up and out with 
little effort. 

The forelegs act merely as weight carriers. 
The hind legs do the propelling. The knee 
should be broad when viewed from in front and 
deep when viewed from the side. The canon 
and the tendon should be strong and the groove 
between them as much accentuated as possible. 
The pastern should be of good length and 
oblique, sloping neatly into a smooth open coro- 
net which joins a corresponding foot without 
any roughness. The hocks should be broad from 



THE STALLION, 29 

front to back and of strong structure. The 
set of those joints should be such that a plumb- 
line dropped from the posterior angle of the 
hip should strike the hock and traverse the en- 
tire length of the tendon. This brings the 
weight to bear downward in a perpendicular 
line and gives the most strength. Quality of the 
legs has already been discussed, as has the tex- 
ture and character of the hoof. Avoid horses 
that stand with their forelegs stretched out in 
front of them or tucked in below them. 

Action must necessarily be different in the 
different sorts of horse and as such will be dealt 
with specifically in considering the various 
breeds. Generally speaking in all horses the 
step at the walk should be straight forward, 
each foot being picked up cleanly and showing 
the shoe at each stride. At the trot the move- 
ment should be bold and free, the legs carried 
well together, especially behind. Very wide ac- 
tion behind is a fault. Even in fast trotters 
where it has been condoned it is now deprecated 
as all the fastest are line trotters and do not 
throw the hind legs outside the front. A horse 
that stands "nigger-heeled" or with his front 
toes out, will usually strike his knees. The one 
that toes in will go clear. Paddling or throwing 
the fore feet outward toward the finish of the 
stroke is very objectionable as also is the out- 
ward or inward movement of the knee. The 
hocks should be kept close together, flexed 



30 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

sharply and brought forward promptly well be- 
neath the body. A wide-going duck-like motion 
is bad. 

Soundness of wind must be insisted on al- 
ways. Make a pass at a horse as though to 
punch him in the flank and if he grunts it is 
well to let some one else have him. When a 
horse can not keep that kind of a secret he will 
most likely tell his troubles loudly at the end of 
a smart run. Look well to his eyes, his teeth 
and his testicles — see that he has a full normal 
set of each. 

In choosing broodmares the same general 
qualifications must govern with the exception 
that instead of the bold masterful masculine ap- 
pearance of the stallion the mare should have a 
distinctly feminine turn to her, though her 
outlook should be lofty just the same. She can 
do with a bit more range than the horse, so 
long as she is strong-backed, deep in the flank, 
roomy all over and good in her bone. 

In grading up native stock with pure-bred 
sires it is best to avoid extremes. If the mares 
are small do not mate them with a great big lub- 
ber of a stallion. Nature abhors extremes. 
Rather choose a medium sized compactly built 
stallion. He will give better results. If one 
has none but small runty mares to begin with it 
will pay to hasten slowly and lay the first-cross 
foundation securely in a uniform lot of fillies to 
which a larger horse may be bred and size grad- 



THE STALLION. 31 

ually worked to in that way. It is not often 
advisable to try to span the chasm between the 
1,000-pound mare and the 2,000-pound stallion 
at one leap. As size is attained from 1,500 to 
1,600 pounds and upward the ton stallion is all 
right, but with mares of 1,000 pounds or less a 
horse of not more than 1,650 pounds will do 
better work than a larger one. The same prin- 
ciple applies in all horse breeding — the more 
divergent the types of the parents the smaller 
are the chances of breeding good horses from 
them. 

In choosing either stallions or broodmares, 
outside of actual unsoundnesses, avoid long 
couplings, light ribs, weak loins, light flanks, 
narrowness of conformation, calf-knees, sickle 
hocks, straight pasterns and small, steep, flat, 
shelly or low-heeled or mulelike feet. Very 
light bone also should be left for some one else, 
also crooked top lines, low backs, drooping 
rumps, ewe and short straight necks, sour or 
"fiddle" heads, sow ears, dish faces and small 
piggy eyes. Sidebones, ringbones, spavins and 
thoroughpins are most common unsoundnesses. 
Each is easily detected. A splint does not 
matter much in a young horse. The legs should 
be smooth and clean from the knees and hocks 
down to the coronet and so to the hoof which 
should be of fine texture without ridges, cracks 
or breaks. If in running your hand down the 
leg you find a bump, look to it closely. 



32 THE HOESE BOOK. 

In purchasing a stallion, as that transaction 
is usually carried through in this country, see 
to it that whatever promises or representations 
the seller makes are made before the bargain 
is struck and the consideration passes. Any- 
thing said after the consideration has passed is 
not binding on the vendor. If a guarantee of 
anythiuig is to go with the horse get it in good 
set terms, the plainer and more definite the 
better. Always secure the pedigree certificate 
at the time of sale with a definite assurance that 
the horse bought is actually the one named in 
the certificate, "Mistakes" have been known 
to occur in this very particular. A guarantee 
of the kind holds the seller either to make the 
horse fit the certificate or the certificate fit the 
horse and leaves him in a bad place if he can 
do neither. • 

A guarantee that a horse will prove an aver- 
age foal-getter has come with the lapse of time 
to be generally construed to mean that he will 
beget 50 per cent of foals to mares covered. If 
he does this the first season he will be doing 
well enough. A stallion guarantee is usually 
a jug-handled sort of an affair, compelling the 
buyer to breed the horse only to regular breed- 
ing mares, to keep a tally sheet showing proper 
return of mares, to return the horse in as good 
shape as when he was sold and to do yet other 
things all within a stated time. In return the 
guarantor agrees, in the event of the horse 



THE STALLION. 33 

not proving up to specifications, to replace him 
with a stallion of equal value, and he — the 
guarantor — sets the value. There is not a 
great chance for the buyer in such a deal, but 
somehow he manages to worry along from year 
to year. Most reputable firms prefer to treat 
their customers liberally and keep them satis- 
fied on the ground, no doubt, that a pleased 
customer is the best advertisement, for no 
guarantor can be compelled at law to do much 
under that sort of a contract. 

The seller should put in writing all he prom- 
ises to do and sign his name to his promises. 
The law is peculiar in regard to commercial 
transactions "on inspection" and there is no 
special protection for the man who goes into 
a deal with his eyes open. He is supposed to 
watch out for himself. A guarantee of abso- 
lute soundness need never be expected. No 
sane man would give such an one. Legal com- 
plications must, however, always be unravelled 
by lawyers in the long run and therefore when 
a buyer goes afield to bring home a stallion 
he would better post himself at the fountain 
head freshly on the intricacies of the law. If 
he gets from the seller his bill of sale, a guar- 
antee of average potency, the pedigree cer- 
tificate and transfer and a definite statement 
that the horse bought is really the one named 
in the papers, he will be getting about all. that 
is coming to him as the business is usually 



34 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

done nowadays. If lie is a competent judge lie 
can afford to go ahead on his own responsibility. 
If he is not competent to make a good choice 
it will pay him to invoke the aid of the seller, 
who must know more about the animal than one 
who has only known him for a few hours. Deal 
only with reputable men. It is seldom that 
such men will throw a buyer down when their 
aid is claimed. 



CHAPTER IV. 

EMBRYOLOGY, IMPREGNATION, 
CONCEPTION. 

Transmission of life lias always been one of 
the greatest mysteries with which investigators 
have had to deal. As the higher mammalian 
animals are all the result of evolution spread- 
ing over millions of years, so the development 
of the life-transmitting agents must have been 
brought about through evolution from mere cel- 
lular fission of protoplasmic bodies up to the 
present complicated process. It was not until 
1677, as is commonly accepted, that the seminal 
animalcules were discovered and it was not 
until well into the nineteenth century that much 
was known of their history and growth. Actual 
physiological transmission of life, transmission 
of physical and mental inheritance and the de- 
velopment of the fetus in the womb, with all 
the concomitant maze of mystery existing in 
reversion, accidental sports and the transmis- 
sion of acquired characteristics, form one of the 
most intricate problems with which science has 
to deal. It is impossible to go into any ex- 
tended discussion of this subject here. There- 
for the merest outline must suffice. 

In the mare the two ovaries are situated in 

35 



36 THE HORSE BOOK. 

the lumbar region and connected with the womb 
by the Fallopian tubes. In the ovaries the ova 
or eggs undergo many well defined changes be- 
fore maturity and are then liberated, usually 
one at a time, occasionally more. This is the 
germ-cell of the female. 

In the testes of the male the sperm-cells or 
spermatozoa have their origin in the semnifer- 
ous tubules. These life-giving agents undergo 
various changes from their inception to full 
development. At maturity viewed under the 
microscope they are threadlike bodies furnished 
with heads and not at all unlike the "wrig- 
glers" one may see any summer day in a barrel 
of rainwater and which produce mosquitoes. 
These spermatozoa, having been matured, are 
stored in the seminal vesicles and during copu- 
lation are deposited in the vagina of the female. 
In some instances the number of these sperm- 
cells appears to be countless, in others not so 
great, but in all there is what as yet seems to 
be almost unaccountable superabundance of 
them. With them is secreted a flux or lubricat- 
ing medium in which the spermatozoa float, but 
which in itself is not fertile. 

Periods of heat are in the mare generally 
though not always coincident with the ripening 
and liberation of the egg. This passes into the 
Fallopian tube and through that to the womb. 
The spermatozoa have the power of motion and 
when deposited in the vagina by the horse begin 



EMBKYOLOGY, IMPREGNATION, CONCEPTION. 37 

to work forward. Tliey enter the womb, usu- 
ally in large numbers, and some penetrate into 
the Fallopian tubes where, according to the 
best authorities, the first stage of impregnation 
takes place. The egg seems to have a strong 
attraction for the spermatozoa. Surrounding 
the egg is a soft envelope which is readily 
pierced by the comparatively hard head of the 
spermatozoon, probably by several. One alone, 
however, forces its way into the center of the 
egg, his tail is broken off and no more are al- 
lowed to enter. This forms what is termed the 
male pro-nucleus. In the egg at about the 
same time the female pro-nucleus is formed and 
those two moving together unite and complete 
the process of impregnation. In the egg there 
is a yolk which, after fertilization, is first de- 
veloped to greater proportions than when im- 
pregnation took place, supplies sustenance for 
the embryo and later is absorbed. When it 
is considered that there are no two things in 
animal life exactly alike, and when it is known 
that only one of hundreds, perhaps thousands, 
of spermatozoa actually fertilizes the egg, it is 
easily recognized how vast and uncertain the 
problem of heredity really is. 

Development of the fetus in the womb of the 
mare has been more or less accurately worked 
out. Description of the changes noted, how- 
ever, belongs to the domain of the veterinarian 
rather than of the breeder. It is pertinent to 



38 THE HORSE BOOK. 

observe, nevertheless, that there is no actual 
blood transmission directly from the dam to 
the fetus — there is no direct communication be- 
tween the maternal and fetal circulations. In- 
stead the blood vessels of the placental mem- 
branes (which we recognize as the afterbirth 
after foaling) lie contiguous 'to the blood ves- 
sels of the dam and sustenance is afforded to 
the fetus by diffusion. Besides this there is 
in the amnion or water bag a large supply of 
fluid which is freely imbibed and absorbed by 
the foal. It is thus easy to see how a very 
slight disturbance of the juxta-position of the 
blood vessels of the dam and membranes, or of 
the organs secreting the water in the amnion, 
may cause nourishment to be shut off and a 
weak or dead foal be produced. The merest 
disarrangement of the contiguity of the blood 
vessels may work harm to the young and in 
this way many a weakly ill-nourished anemic 
foal may be accounted for when the owner 
could see no reason why it should not have come 
all right. 

In order for a mare to conceive it is neces- 
sary for the sperm-cells to enter the cavity of 
the womb and the Fallopian tubes. As they are 
microscopic in size they are necessarily very 
delicate in structure. It is plain that if the 
neck of the womb is absolutely close'd they can 
not enter. After impregnation has taken place 
and the fertilized egg has descended into the 



EMBKYOLOGY, IMPREGNATION, CONCEPTION. 39 

womlj, the mouth of the womb is closed by a 
plug of mucus. If from laceration or other 
accidental cause the mouth is unduly distended 
it will not be closed and the egg will pass out 
into the vagina and be lost. Mares suffering 
from any- affection of the genital organs, such 
as leucorrhea (whites), which sets up a dis- 
charge from the mucous surfaces, will rarely 
conceive. These discharges are acid and de- 
stroy the spermatozoa. Similarly any condi- 
tion such as a heavy cold, strangles or the like, 
which induces high temperature or fever, will 
operate to kill the sperm-cells. These, with the 
germ of contagious abortion, are the commonest 
causes of barrenness in mares. 

Any man reasonably intelligent can quickly 
obtain a working knowledge of the genital or- 
gans of the mare. Outwardly visible is the 
vulva. This is the entrance to the vagina which 
is a more or less cylindrical canal into which 
the human hand may readily be passed with 
the fingers placed so as to form a cone. A 
short distance within the vagina will be found 
a shallow depression on its floor and beyond 
this a protuberance coming from beneath. On 
no occasion or pretext should this be touched. 
It is the meatus urinarius — the orifice through 
which the urine is voided from the bladder. 
It is fitted with a valve and is a tender and 
delicate structure. Mares have been killed by 
ignorant operators mistaking it for the neck of 



40 THE HOESE BOOK. 

the womb and maniiDulating it. Leave it alone. 
Pushing the hand still gently inward and i^ast 
the meatus the hard tough neck of the womb 
will be encountered — a stick-like dependent 
body about two inches in diameter and circu- 
lar. This will be foun^ with a hole in it in 
most cases. If it is closed a little exploration 
with the finger will discover a transverse inden- 
tation in it. Gentle pressure of the finger will 
effect an entrance and when one finger has been 
inserted the orifice may be rimmed out to per- 
mit the ingress of two fingers, when it is large 
enough. If it is necessary thus to open the 
neck of the womb it should always be done a 
short time before service, because it will quickly 
resume its contracted condition. It should be 
needless to say that when such explorations are 
made the nails should be carefully trimmed, the 
arm and hand plentifully smeared with vase- 
line. A hand on which there is any abrasion, 
even a bad agnail, should never be employed 
in such work. The benefit of "opening" a 
mare is not, as is generally supposed, so much 
in providing free entrance for the spermatozoa, 
but in removing toughened coagulated acid 
mucous secretions collected in the mouth and 
neck of the womb. 

Impregnation of mares artificially, as it has 
been termed, by syringe or capsule, is admitted- 
ly a successful operation. As the spermatozoa 
must first get within the womb before they can 



EMBRYOLOGY, IMPREGNATION, CONCEPTION. 41 

reach the egg, it is of obvious advantage posi- 
tively to place them there. The operation con- 
sists merely in taking up the spermatic fluid in 
the syringe (so-called impregnator) or capsule 
and depositing it within the uterine cavity. 
Once there the spermatozoa may safely be trust- 
ed to meet the egg. Mares can easily be got 
with foal yet never see the horse. Two or 
three mares may be impregnated from the same 
service, as the amount of spermatic fluid ejacu- 
lated by the horse is abundant. 

In order that the operation may be deftly 
performed, it is necessary that the womb should 
be open. If on examination it is found to be 
closed, open it as described. After copulation 
the withdrawal of the horse will bring much of 
the spermatic fluid back into the depression in 
the floor of the vagina to which reference has 
already been made. If the nozzle of the syringe 
is inserted in the vagina at, this point a suffi- 
cient amount of the fluid may be drawn up into 
it. If it is desired to operate on the mare that 
has just been served, conduct the nozzle of the 
syringe with the hand into the neck of the 
wt)mb, press the bulb, ejecting its contents into 
the womb, and the job is done. If it is desired 
to impregnate a second or a third mare from 
the one service of the horse, have her held 
handy by a sensible attendant. Blunderers are 
little use for this purpose. When service has 
been accomplished to the first mare by the horse 



42 THE HORSE BOOK. 

have him taken away. Then taking up the fluid 
with the syringe quickly, deftly insert the nozzle 
in the vagina of the second mare, pass it for- 
ward into the womb and press the bulb as be- 
fore. The syringe used for this work is fitted 
with a rubber tube about 20 inches long between 
the nozzle and bulb. Care must be taken to 
sterilize the apparatus thoroughly between op- 
erations by cleansing in hot water. 

With the capsule, which is made of gelatine 
and readily dissolves on contact with the warm 
moist tissues, the operation is quite as simple, 
if not more so. Kemove the cai3 from the cap- 
sule and taking the other part in the hand, in- 
sert it in the vagina, scooping up the fluid into 
it with the fore finger. When the capsule feels 
full push it on up into the womb and leave it 
there. When a second mare is to be impregnat- 
ed, fill the capsule as before, withdraw the hand 
holding the capsule, insert it in the vagina and 
push it into the womb as before. There is no 
occasion to be in any great rush. Be deft and 
make every move count. Any reasonably dex- 
terous man may hecome proficient at either op- 
eration with a little practice. The main thing 
is to keep the fertilizing fluid from any marked 
rise or fall in temperature, and to keep it from 
the light. The syringe shuts out the light; the 
fingers closed about 'the capsule perform the 
same service, when a second mare is impreg- 
nated. 



EMBKYOLOGY, IMPREGNATION^ CONCEPTION. 43 

Any man who stands stallions may measur- 
ably increase his returns from foals by using 
this process of impregnation. The service of a 
much favored stallion may be greatly extended 
by it. Some mares make a great fuss when 
they are to be bred and others are atrociously 
mean when in heat. All such may easily be 
dealt with by keeping the horse out of their 
sight and operating quietly upon them. I have 
carried a filled caj^sule forty feet and suc- 
cessfully impregnated a female burro from a 
service performed by a Shetland Pony stallion 
to a mare of his own kind. The little stallion 
refused the burro altogether and she in turn 
could not be coaxed to go near him. The cap- 
sule and a little ingenuity overcame the difficul- 
ty and she foaled a fine healthy hinny. 

Whenever the operation is to be performed 
the mare should either be hoppled or her fore 
foot should be held up by an assistant. The 
hair of the tail should be braided or sacked 
down the length of the dock so that it does not 
interfere with the operation, and an assistant 
should stand ready to pull it out of the way if 
necessary. I have made a study of this matter 
of impregnation and the more I see and learn 
of it the more deeply impressed I am with the 
great possibilities, financial and otherwise, in- 
herent in it. I was the first to exploit the cap- 
sule method of impregnating mares — I invented 
that method — and have had an extended ex- 



44 THE HORSE BOOK, 

perience with it. I commend it to the atten- 
tion of all breeders and men who stand stallions 
and jacks. I count the syringe as good as the 
capsule in every respect save the danger of 
jDossible infection of clean mares from those 
that are diseased unless the syringe is kejDt in a 
thoroughly sterilized condition. The operation 
itself is an old one, but as at first it was con- 
fined exclusively to the human subject it is not 
strange that it did not gain wide publicity until 
a comparatively recent date. So far as I know 
the mare is the only one of our domestic farm 
animals on which the operation of so-called arti- 
ficial impregnation has been performed. 

There are many fool notions concerned with 
the mating of stallion and mare. For instance 
some people think that the stallion "is to 
blame " if a mare has twins. The mare alone is 
responsible for the number of foals she pro- 
duces. If two eggs are matured about the same 
time and the mare is covered, the chances are 
that both will be fertilized. There are more 
spermatozoa ejaculated at one service of the 
horse that there ever will be eggs matured by 
a mare in her whole lifetime. The stallion can 
have nothing to do with the number of ^foals a 
mare may produce at a birth, except that he fer- 
tilizes as many eggs as her ovaries ripen. A 
mare is not more likely to have twins to a horse 
than she is to a jack, though some folks think 
she is. 



EMBRYOLOGY^ IMPREGNATION, CONCEPTION. 45 

Then again it lias been believed by some, mar- 
v^elous though it may appear, that the spermatic 
fluid of the horse could be transported long dis- 
tances under almost any conditions and still re- 
tain its life-transmitting properties. In fact a 
shameless charlatan once went so far as to ad- 
vertise a container in which the fluid might be 
sent through the mails, thus taking advantage 
of a ridiculous credulity born of ignorance. Just 
how long the spermatozoa will live under the 
most favoring conditions is not yet determined, 
but it is no great length of time. 

Another idea which popularly prevails is that 
startling impressions received by a mare at the 
time of service may have an effect on the color 
and even conformation of the progeny. Not so 
long ago a man asked me how he might paint 
out the blaze face of his horse so that the mares 
might not see the white mark, and so have no 
'M)adly marked foals." On various occasions 
I have seen men swiftly wheel their mares 
around after service so that they might gaze 
upon the stallion's bald face and so insure foals 
similarly marked. Color at least may be re- 
moved from the list of those things which accrue 
from impressions received at the time of serv- 
ice; and it should not be forgotten, moreover, 
that impregnation can not take place at the mo- 
ment of copulation. 

Then there is the everlasting "double cover." 
It will not down. Many men insist that the 



46 THE nOESE BOOK. 

mare has a better chance to get with foal if she 
is bred twice within half an hour or thereabouts. 
The fallacy of this contention is explained fully 
by the great number of sperm-cells given up by 
the horse. As there is a vast surplus of them 
in each service there is assuredly no sense in 
duplicating their number. In any case it is a 
serious tax to make a horse cover twice in thirty 
minutes and it is a money losing proposition as 
well. One service at a heat is enough. 

Another notion long in vogue is that the first 
impregnation influences subsequent offspring ir- 
respective of joarentage. Thus it has been al- 
leged that if a young mare should be bred to a 
jack and produce a mule, all her later foals by 
stallions would have mule marks. Prof. Cossar 
Ewart's experiments with the Burchell zebra— 
the most brilliantly colored of the equine race — 
and pony mares apparently prove that there is 
no basis in fact for this theory of telegony, as 
it is called, and that the first impregnation has 
nothing to do with those which follow later. 

Close inbreeding is a practice to be shunned 
in a general way. It is not to be denied that 
some famous breeders have extensively inbred 
their stock and so found a plain path to the pro- 
duction of a few outstanding animals, but in in- 
breeding as a rule there is concealed a bottom- 
less abyss of failure. The rare instances where 
incestuous mating has been practiced and sue- 



EMBRYOLOGY, IMPREGNATION, CONCEPTION. 47 

cess followed are the exceptions which but prove 
the rule. Just what degree of relationship may 
be permitted can not be set down by any rule, 
but it may be accepted as accurate that consan- 
guinity at all close should be barred. 



CHAPTER V. 
MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 

Having seen that there is nothing super- 
natural or occult about the transmission of life, 
but instead that the development of the germ- 
cell and the sperm-cell is a normal physiogolical 
process, it becomes plain that in order to pro- 
duce young of normal vigor the parents should 
be in normally vigorous health. Possession of 
the highest condition of health implies the con- 
tinual breaking down of the bodily tissues, elim- 
ination of the waste and replacement by new 
tissues, prevention of undue accumulation of 
fat and thorough cleansing of the system by the 
eliminatory channels. This desired condition 
inheres in the proper degree only in the horse 
when he is worked and well fed. It follows that 
every stallion should be worked, and the same 
is true of every brood mare. I can see no rea- 
son why both should not take their turns regu- 
larly in the harness and do their reproductive 
work as well. 

There comes a time, of course, in the life of 
every stallion and mare when, on account of 
failing bodily vigor, only moderate labor, or 
none at all, should be required of them. In the 
sere and yellow stage of equine existence the 
system's physiological processes are much 

48 



MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 49 

slower than in' youth or at maturity. The ideal 
condition is achieved when just enough work 
is given to keep all the bodily functions at their 
best. I count a full day's work none too much 
for a stallion from his fifth at least to his 
twelfth year and often much longer. 

With the extension of my experience I have 
become more and more firmly rooted in the be- 
lief that the working of the stallion and the 
mare, in the draft breeds especially, is an abso- 
lute essential to a high degree of success in 
breeding. It follows then that the working of 
the parents has had its influence on breeds. If 
this is true the manner of working and the tem- 
perament of the people ordering the labor must 
also have exerted their influence on breeds — 
which brings us back once more to the personal 
equation and environment. 

It seems clear that this accounts in large de- 
gree for the prevailing popularity of the Perche- 
ron in the United States and explains why its 
offspring finds such favor with the American 
people. There are no great studs of idle mares 
in France. It is hard to buy mares there in 
show condition. It is common enough to see 
mature draft stallions imported from France 
with the collar marks upon them. I do not re- 
call ever having seen similar marks on a stallion 
imported from the United Kingdom. The 
French horse is driven by men of quick nervous 
temperament, flashy and mercurial at times, 



50 THE HORSE BOOK. 

perhaps, but in the main steadfast, enduring 
and the most thrifty in the list of nations. These 
are the people — the French small farmers— by 
whom the French stallions are bred from work- 
ing stock and of the French horses of draft 
blood the Percheron must be taken as the typi- 
cal example. 

The greatness of the British draft breeds is 
everywhere conceded, but it is doubtful if the 
maintenance of great studs in plethoric idle- 
ness has added anything to the sum total of 
their excellence. 

Put the stallion to work. Break him like any 
other horse, preferably as a two-year-old, and 
make him do light, but not real, work at that 
age. At three make him do what other colts 
of his age are required to do. If an unbroken 
stallion of workable age is purchased, let the 
breaking be the first thing undertaken with him. 
It will not generally prove a hard job, for a stal- 
lion is seldom afraid. Gradually toughen him 
into doing his full day's work as one of a team. 
It is preferable to hitch an entire horse with 
a mare, but if it comes handier to work him with 
a gelding there is no reason why he should not 
be matched in that way. There is a popular im- 
pression that a gelding worked with a stallion 
will not thrive. There is no truth in any such 
assumption. As a rule a stallion is more bull- 
headed than a gelding or mare. Always make 
him behave. It was a great engineer who in- 



MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 51 

vented the whip. If the horse is inclined to nip 
at and bother his mate, tie a staff of the proper 
length according to the job on hand from the 
inner ring of his bit to the shank-ring of a 
halter on the head of the other horse in the pair, 
or to the upper ring on the liames. Use good 
stout harness and never forget that there is a 
stallion in the team. Do not let him yell and 
squeal and generally make a nuisance of him- 
self. Make him behave like a gentleman. 

In addition to the good health and vigor 
which accrue to the stallion kept in regular 
work in the harness there are other blessings 
which he wins through having to earn his daily 
bread. One, and I count it among the most im- 
portant, is the companionship of man, and an- 
other is a good place to sleep and eat. Thrice 
blessed is the stallion which works every day, 
lives in cleanliness and comfort among the other 
horses, sees human beings and often hears the 
human voice. Thrice cursed is the poor beast 
which is banished to some out of the way corner 
of the farmstead, closed up in some dirty old 
stall, banked deep, perhaps, with manure, forced 
to seek the light of day and the fresh air in a 
yard which, never cleansed, is in damp weather 
a compound essence of filth and other abomina- 
tions, and fed more or less occasionally when 
some one happens to remember about him. Free- 
ly worked, the legs of a stallion will seldom go 
wrong. Condemned to solitary confinement in 



52 THE HORSE BOOK. 

a germ-infected tenement his legs seldom stay, 
right. Worked freely, intelligently fed, prop- 
erly groomed and stabled, a stallion will re- 
main a normal sort of beast. A solitary pris- 
oner, he generally contracts the habits of mas- 
turbating, crib-biting or lip-slapping, or his 
temper may go altogether. And who shall say 
with truth that the poor brute has been to 
blame ? 

Exercise and plenty of it the stallion must 
have. The rational way is to work him. That 
is far better than walking him along the road. 
Still, some exercise is better than stagnation on 
the principle that a small bone is better than 
none to a hungry dog — but some is never 
enough. It is an abominable chore to walk a 
stallion along the road for eight miles or so. 
Few grooms -can resist the temptation to sol- 
dier at such a job. It is better to drive a horse 
than to lead him, but if he is broken to harness 
at all he might as well work and so earn his 
keep. 

Finishing up this matter of exercising stal- 
lions I believe that every stallion should have 
some good sharp work every week-day of his 
life. Drafters should be sharpened up at the 
trot. Make them step along occasionally as 
though they amounted to something. Just be- 
cause a horse is entire is no reason why he 
should be allowed to loaf. The gait of the 
drafter is the walk with a heavy load behind 



MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION, 53 

him, to be sure, but he should be able to get 
out and trot on occasion and not fall all over 
himself. If a coach stallion is to be trusted to 
beget coach or carriage horses of good to high 
class he should be able to do just what is ex- 
pected of his get. If he can not step along the 
road at a fair clip and keep it up for a reason- 
able distance, get one that can. It is hard 
enough to find stallions that will transmit 
strongly and regularly the good qualities which 
they possess themselves ; it is nothing short of 
folly to expect them to transmit those which 
they have not. 

If a stallion is worked the feeding problem 
solves itself. He will get his regular rations 
every day, and while I prefer oats and bran 
it does not so much matter what a working stal- 
lion gets to eat so long as he gets enough and 
the quality is good. There is no wonderful 
secret formula for feeding stallions in or out of 
the season. Oats and bran, about one-fifth bran 
by weight, form the best ration. With the work- 
ing stallion the ration should always be the 
same. Corn is good feed also for a stallion that 
is worked, providing it is not changed. 

Time was when I believed that for stallions 
during the season it was an excellent plan to 
give a mash of boiled barley every Wednesday 
and Saturday night, but I have changed my no- 
tions. Time also was when I advocated the use 
of cut or chopped hay in feeding stallions. Ex- 



54 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

periments have, however, shown that the addi- 
tion of this material to a horse's grain ration 
makes no appreciable difference in the manner 
in which the grain is digested. If a stallion is 
a very hoggish feeder it may pay to mix hay 
cut or choi^ped in half or three-quarter-inch 
lengths with his grain, for the reason that the 
sharp ends will keej) him from bolting his food, 
but when the ration is fed as a mash the cut 
hay soon gets soft and is bolted with the rest 
of the food. 

Most stallions get too much hay ; in fact, that 
is true of most farm horses. A good rule to fol- 
low as a basis for finding out how much grain 
and hay to feed is to allow one pound of each 
to every hundredweght the horse weighs. Some 
will need more, some less. With this as a basis 
of experiment the ordinarily observant man 
will soon be able to tell, by noticing condition 
closely, how much the horse needs. In all cases 
feed enough — just so he comes good and hungry 
to the next meal, and feed three times a day. 
This basis will hold good for feeding all horses 
on the farm. Feed most of the hay at night. 
For instance, if 17 or 18 pounds of hay are to be 
fed per day, feed five or six in the morning, 
none at noon and the remainder at night. If it 
is not all cleaned up feed less. I also believed 
once that grass during the season was good for 
a stallion. I do not think so now, especially if 
the horse is worked. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 55 

Unfortunately for the horse breeding busi- 
ness, in most rural districts stallions are not 
worked. After the season, perhaps from the 
middle to the end of July, the horse is too often 
banished from active participation in the life 
of the farm. He is seldom groomed, his stall is 
cleaned out perhaps on rainy days, and such ex- 
ercise as he gets he must needs take in a small 
lot which in a rainy time becomes a manurial 
quagmire. liis rations are cut down almost to 
the vanishing point, all except the hay, and of 
that he gets about all he will eat — much to his 
detriment. As cold weather comes along the 
horse gets less and less care, the dandruff in his 
coat accumulates, and if he is of a hairy-legged 
sort his shanks get into bad shape. Along about 
the end of February his owner, with the avowed 
intention of getting the horse ready to make a 
season, begins to tear out the thick dirty coat 
and pour feed into the horse. A more or less 
spasmodic attempt is made at exercising the 
poor beast, and when the first mares come along 
he is expected to be in proper fix to get them 
with foal. A worse method of treating a stal- 
lion could hardly be devised. 

If anyone can not see that it is to his interest 
to work his stallion and persists in keeping an 
idle horse about his premises to be nothing but 
an expense for two-thirds of the year, then let 
him stable the horse projierly, feed him grain 
sufficient to keep him in round flesh at all times, 



56 THE HORSE BOOK. 

groom him at least once a day, and give liim not 
less tlian eight miles on the road, rain or shine, 
every week-day. The feeding should be done the 
same as when the horse is worked, but, of 
course, so much grain will not be necessary. 
This idea of deliberately letting a horse get 
down skin-poor, so that he may be "built up 
again," is all bosh. Better keep him in good 
shape, round and pleasant to look at, though 
not loaded with tallow, at all times. When you 
find a stallion let down thin in cold weather you 
will generally hear his owner making excuses 
for the lack of flesh and the dirty coat. It is a 
cardinal principal in business never to make an 
excuse or to get into a place where one has to 
be made. The man who keeps his stallion in 
poverty all winter may have won out at it, but 
if he has it is. in spite of, not because of, his 
practices. 

When it comes to beginning the season with a 
stallion that has been worked it is a very sim- 
ple matter to hitch him up and start him on his 
rounds, if he is to travel. In good hard flesh he 
can make a long distance each day and feel all 
the better for it. A stallion that has been 
worked all winter should have no trouble in 
making as much as twelve miles a day or even 
more if it is necessary. With a stallion not ac- 
customed to the harness, eight will be enough. 
If the stopping places to be made do not neces- 



MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 57 

sitate this amount of traveling the horse should 
be exercised in the morning. 

Before starting his season the stallion should 
be properly advertised. No advertisement is as 
good as the horse himself stepping proudly 
down the village street hooked up with a fine 
mare. His docility, good manners and attrac- 
tive appearance in the harness can not fail to 
compel favorable attention. Moreover when he 
is worked and driven frequently to town own- 
ers of mares get to know him well and, seeing 
him often, are necessarily more impressed with 
him than they are by other horses which are 
kept cooped up at home from one season's end 
to the next. Then the owner has always the 
chance to work up sentiment favorable to his 
stallion, and there is no owner of mares who 
would not rather breed them to a horse likely 
to be sure than to one just as good but not so 
much so. In addition space in the local news- 
papers should be bought and used to exploit 
the merits of the horse, his breeding, his fees 
and terms, and a detail of the route he is to 
travel or the place at which he is to stand. Well 
displayed posters help — a little. There have 
been so many half-truths and untruths told by 
this route that men have come to regard a stal- 
lion poster as rather apocryphal to say the 
least, but they will help some, especially if the 
detail of the route to be traveled is clearly 
stated (and then adhered to strictly), and the 



58 THE HORSE BOOK. 

IDOsters are securely nailed up in public places. 

Most of the states now have laws granting 
the stallion owner a lien on the get or dam and 
get for the service fee. This lien is usually op- 
erative only when certain formalities specified 
in the law are complied with. These laws 
brought down to date will be found for those 
of the several states and territories which have 
them in the appendix to this volume. If the law 
requires that the horse be registered with any 
state or municipal official, the owner should so 
register him before the season begins. When 
the season is closed the list of mares covered, 
when required, should always be filed. This 
IDlaces the owner in a position where he can 
force any delinquent to pay. Those wliom he 
desires to favor may be favored just as though 
no list has been filed. This filing of the list of 
mares covered places no obligation on the owner 
of the horse, but it enables him to force i^ayment 
if he desires to do so and protects him efficiently. 
In every instance the owner should post him- 
self as to the requirements of the law and then 
comply with them to the letter. This is only a 
matter of self-protection of which every stallion 
owner should avail himself and implies no dis- 
trust of his patrons. 

In all advertisements state plainly the terms 
on which the horse is to stand. In addition have 
cards printed containing on one side three con- 
tracts (fees to suit) worded like this: 



MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 59 



PKRCHEKON STALLION ROBERT. 

Registered No in Stud Book of Percheion 

Society of America. 
(Insert pedigree if desired.) 
Will stand by the season, from April 1 to July 1, at 
$10. Fee due at end of season. In case mare fails to get 
in foal during the season she may be returned free for the 
following season or another mare substituted for her next 
'reason. 

I accept the season contract. 

Signature 

(Of owner of mare bred.) 



Will stand by insurance. $20 to insure a mare with 

foal. Fee payable when mare is known to be in foal. 1 

agree to return mare regularly for trial, and if I fail to 

return her as agreed I promise to pay the season fee of $10. 

I accept the insurance contract. 

Signature 

(Of owner of mare bred.) 
Will stand by the leap or single service, at $5. Fee 
payable at time of service. 



It should be understood that this is merely a sample 
form to be used for stallions of any breed. 

On the other side print words to this effect : 

(Post office) (State) (Date) 

Bred this day for , 

(Mare owner's name.) (Address) 

One mare, markings as follows : 

(Color) (Note marks plainly.) 

Name 

Terms of service Fee $ 

(Insert terms here.) 

On insurance contract mare is to be returned for trial 
(Insert dates specifically as agreed.) 

(Signature of owner or groom.) 
(Signature of owner of mare.) 



60 THE HORSE BOOK. 

Whenever a mare is brought to be bred hand 
the owner of her one of these cards, and when he 
has decided under which contract he desires to 
breed her make him sign his name to that partic- 
ular agreement. Then fill in the other side of the 
card. Always be sure to get the dates down 
and that they agree on both sides of the card. 
When the owner of a mare signs such a con- 
tract he is held for the payment undertaken. 
A man who will not sign such a document is 
usually a good one to let take his mare to some 
other horse. To protect himself in an insur- 
ance contract a stallion owner should make it 
plain that the return of the mare is the busi- 
ness of her owner. Most breeding on farms is 
done by insurance. The courts have held that 
if a man breeds his mare by insurance he is not 
bound to return her if she fails to settle at the 
first leap or at any other leap. In a plain in- 
surance contract the stallion owner takes his 
chances of the mare being got with foal the first 
leap and he gets a higher price for it if she 
does. If the mare does not settle there is no 
duty imposed on the mare owner to pay any- 
thing or to bring her back. If on the other 
hand it is plainly stated in the contract that 
mares bred to insure and not regularly returned 
must be paid for at season's rates, they will 
come back until they do settle or the season 
ends, or their owners must pay. 

Stallion fees are too low in farming regions 



MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 61 

as a general thing. This applies only to pure- 
bred stallions. Grades are dear at any price. 
A common fee is $15 to insure, and let us say 
the stallion owner actually gets paid for foals 
from half the mares covered. For the ease of 
computation let us put the number of foals 
paid for at 50 in the case of a mature horse. At 
$15 each this amounts in all to $750. It will 
cost around $200 a year to pay a good groom 
during the season and feed the horse. Then 
there is also the interest in the money invested 
to be considered and the risk — whatever that 
may amount to. Suppose the horse cost $1,500, 
the interest at 5 per cent would be $75. At 8 
per cent on $1,000 for insurance against death, 
and counting nothing for depreciation, the total 
expenses would be $355. But the stallion will 
decrease in value from year to year, so suppose 
we write off another $100. This makes a total 
expense of $455 to be charged against a gross 
income of $750. The margin is not large. In- 
surance may not actually be carried and the 
money may not be paid out, but the owner is 
entitled to compensation if he carries the risk 
himself, just as he is entitled to credit for the 
grain the horse eats and which otherwise might 
have been converted into cash. With a net in- 
come of around $300 it takes a $1,500 horse 
five years to pay for himself. Some horses 
will do better and some worse. Taking the 
average, the figures will not be found far out 



62 THE HORSE BOOK. 

of the way in either direction. An extra $5 per 
foal paid for practically doubles the profit. It 
is plain that with a $15 fee the limit, no man 
can afford to buy a very good stallion, for such 
cannot be bought, as values now range at least, 
for $1,500 or less. The stallion fee business is 
one in which it will pay the mare owners well 
to let the other fellow make a dollar once in a 
while. 

There is something wrong with this stallion 
fee business anyway, and there always has been. 
The service fee has from time immemorial been 
about the last thing the average farmer has 
thought of paying. It seems to be a prevailing 
impression that the fee is ''easy money," and 
therefore the bill for it deserving of scant con- 
sideration. Then in their far too fierce compe- 
tition stallion men have let their bills run and 
run along till most of them have lost a lot of 
money through their good nature. In fact, it is 
the exception to find a stallion owner conduct 
his business on business principles. Insuring 
the foal to stand and suck, as a business propo- 
sition, is something no other variety of com- 
merce would tolerate. In so doing the stallion 
owner insures not only the proper treatment 
of the mare and against the incidents and acci- 
dents of parturition, but also against battle, 
murder, sudden death, violence and pestilence as 
well as the slight pathological disarrangement of 
the fetal membranes through which, as already 



MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 63 

explained, nourishment is conveyed from dam 
to foal. If owners of mares can coax or force 
a stallion owner to carry such insurance for 
them well and good. That is their business, 
but the stallion owner is foolish to be intimi- 
dated or cajoled in any such way. 

A good leader is essential to the best success 
of any stallion. The man who will best succeed 
as the caretaker of a stallion must be a fairly 
shrewd judge of human nature, a bit of a poli- 
tician and a good mixer as well as thoroughly 
versed in his business. With a valuable horse 
it always pays to hire a good man. English- 
men and Scotchmen, by reason of their special 
training in the old country or by old country 
parents here, have so far enjoyed the reputa- 
tion of being the best stallion leaders we have, 
they are usually the most careful of their 
charges. They have been brought up to the 
business and know its ins and outs. A groom 
that cannot be trusted to be always on the spot 
is little better than no gi^oom at all. Get a 
good man anyway, no matter what his nation- 
ality, and then keep him, though that is not al- 
ways easy. My experience has been that good 
leaders are generally men of peculiar tempera 
ment. 

Every man who makes a business of stand- 
ing stallions should have a properly construct- 
ed breeding plant. This need not be expensive. 
It should consist of good solid footing on which 



64 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

to breed mares, and for this reason a shed is 
preferable to an open yard. Let the yard or 
shed be concealed from view as much as pos- 
sible, and always at some distance from the 
dwelling house — for obvious reasons. At a 
convenient spot erect the teazing pole to form a 
sort of stall in which to try the mares. I like 
it best with the wall of the shed or tight-board 
fence of the yard forming the off side of it. 
For the pole part of it set two stout posts deep- 
ly in the ground parallel to the wall and dis- 
tant from it about the width of an ordinary 
standing stall in a stable. Set these posts 
about eight feet apart and to them, three feet 
and eight inches from the ground, bolt a smooth 
six-inch pole of some tough wood — hickory of 
course preferred. Take the bark off it and 
round off all corners and edges. At the front 
end of the stall so formed build a stout little 
pen. Into this the foal of a nursing mare may 
be bundled with little trouble and with it in 
front of her the mare will stand quiet enough 
without fretting as she surely will if it is out 
of her sight. When the mare is in place, lead 
the horse from his box, make him come up 
quietly at right angles to her and do not let him 
rear and tear all over the place in his efforts 
to get at her. There is no sense in letting a 
horse nip and fuss and fool with a mare for 
half an hour. Sometimes it may be necessary 




o 

X 
o 

;z 

Q 

H 
K 
CQ 



MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 65 

to exercise so much patience, but as a rule it is 
not. 

Breeding hopples have prevented many an 
accident. It is always safer to use them, no 
matter how gentle a mare may be, and it only 
takes a moment of time to adjust them. The 
illustration gives a good idea of them and their 
use. Be sure that they are tight enough. Never 
let the stallion get within range of an ill-tem- 
pered mare's heels. He can usually take care 
of himself when approaching her or mounting. 
If he can get his weight on her back she can not 
hump herself to kick. Most of the accidents re- 
sulting in injuries to stallions by vicious mares 
happen when the horse is dismounting and more 
or less in an exhausted condition, not looking 
out for attack. Once a man gets a horse kicked 
he will think a whole lot of the hopples he 
might have used. This is one of these common 
cases in which an ounce of prevention is worth 
an ocean of regret. In all cases when going 
to his mare make the horse get to her from the 
side, not from behind. 

All sorts of stallion bridles are in use. Only 
comparativelyfew horses needvery severe hand- 
ling. An ordinary bridle made strong enough 
and fitted with a straight bar bit and a lead rein 
with a chain at one end is usually strong enough 
to control th6 horse. Snap the chain into the 
off bit-ring and pass the other end through the 
near ring, thus bringing the chain below the 

5 



66 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

jaw. If a smooth, close-linked supple chain is 
used any good handler can make his horse at- 
tend to business. The most severe apparatus 
consists of a bar of iron about %-inch in thick- 
ness and 8 inches long fitted with rings on both 
ends, the one welded into the off-bit ring and 
the other passed below the jaw through the ring 
on the near side. To the ring on the near end 
of the bar a strap is attached. The bit used 
with the bar is a plain snaffle, and naturally the 
leverage obtained is tremendous, but its use is 
seldom necessary. Never pass the lead rein up 
over the head. That is an indefensible practice 
in handling stallions. By passing the line over 
the head most of the leverage is destroyed and 
gives little more purchase than if the rein is 
snapped into the near ring of the bit only. 
Most of the purchase, such as it is, comes on 
the top of the head, and you can not do much 
trying to control a stallion by his poll. Best of 
all is to break the horse to behave himself so 
that he may be led out to his work with an ordi- 
nary cotton-rope halter. 

In the matter of allowing a two-year-old stal- 
lion to cover mares, experience teaches that 
from eight to ten will not interfere with his de- 
velopment in any way if he is full-fed. Colts 
of this age are usually sure. Only those which 
are well developed and vigorous should be per- 
mitted to serve. The two-year-old colt may be 
allowed to cover about one mare every five 



MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 67 

days. For a three-year-old the limit should be 
from 25 to 30. A horse will average about three 
covers for every foal he begets, if he is reason- 
ably sure, taking mares as they run through 
most country districts. If a three-year-old gets 
half his mare in foal, or 15, he will make about 
45 covers or about three to the week for the 
15 weeks of the season. This makes abput one 
every two days, not counting Sunday. For a 
four-year-old from 40 to 50 mares are enough. 
He may make a slightly longer season, or about 
115 days, and if he gets 25 foals he should make 
75 covers. This is about three every two days. 
A mature horse should be limited mostly to two 
covers daily, perhaps three at a pinch, but 
never more, and then seldom. It is better to 
be conservative in this business of breeding 
mares. Remember that it is the number of 
foals begotten that in the end pay the bill, not 
the number of mares covered. 

Watch out sharply and never breed a mare 
that shows any sort of abnormal discharge from 
the vagina. If she has such a discharge she 
will not get with foal anj^way, and she may give 
the stallion some virulent disease. If by care- 
lessness or unavoidable occurrence the horse 
has been allowed to serve a mare with an 
abnormal discharge the entire penis should 
immediately be washed with a 1-100 solution of 
a good coal tar dip and the sheath should be 
freely syringed to head off possible infection. 



68 THE HORSE BOOK. 

Never put lard or vaseline or other greasy sub- 
stances in the sheath. If a mare has a heavy 
cold or is feverish let her go over to another 
heat. She will rarely get with foal when in 
such a condition, so the service will most likely 
be wasted. 

Many stallions fall into the habit of mastur- 
bation. Prevention is far better than cure, and 
the best preventive is work and the constant 
companionship of man. Horses are unlike 
bulls, rams and boars; it is hard to catch them 
at it. If a horse is under suspicion but can not 
be detected, clean every particle of bedding out 
of his stall and stay with him for eight or ten 
hours. Then close him up and leave him by 
himself for a little while. If he is abusing him- 
self the evidences will shortly be visible on the 
clean floor of the stall. Once the habit is con- 
tracted it is practically impossible to put a stop 
to it. It is common among race horses and all 
other horses that are idle and alone most of the 
time. Many different kinds of shields to pre- 
vent the extrusion of the penis are on the mar- 
ket, but I have little faith in any of them. Some 
men have reported success gained by slipping an 
ivory ring over the gland at the end of the 
penis, just tight enough to prevent erection, 
but not tight enough to shut off circulation. 
Others have reported failure and a few disas- 
ter. I do not like it. If it is desired 
to try the ring on a horse which has 



MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 69 

contracted this habit, get an ivory ring 
and have it fitted by a veterinarian. Hard 
rubber rings have been used for this purpose. 
Avoid them. On no account be so foolish as to 
hang a currycomb or a corn-brush or some 
other lacerating instrument just in front of the 
sheath with the object of hurting the penis 
when an effort is made to extrude it. It is a 
bad business all around, and the best thing is 
to prevent it by working the horse regularly 
and letting him share in the life of the farm. 

A few don'ts are now in order. Don't let a 
stallion roar like a pirate whenever the door of 
his box is opened. Don't let him rear and 
sprawl all over the lot after he is led out. Don 't 
let him plunge forward when going to cover. 
Make him come easy at it. Don't dope him with 
drugs to make him more anxious. Don't take 
every old mare that comes along. Don 't let the 
horse cover on Sunday to oblige anybody. 
Don't run down your neighbor's stallion. Don't 
act like the traditional ''stud hoss man." Don't 
take any stock in the hoary old fictions that so 
generally prevail. Don't cut prices. Don't 
make a rich man a present of $20 or $25 be- 
cause he has four or five mares to breed. Don 't 
knock ; be a booster. 



CHAPTEE VI. 

MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES AND 

FOALS. 

As it is with the breeding stallion so it is with 
the brood mare; it is best to work her when- 
ever possible. A mare that is worked intelli- 
gently, not pulled hard, properly fed and well 
housed will usually carry her foal to the ap- 
pointed time and bear it with little trouble. If 
the pregnant mare is worked the feeding prob- 
lem solves itself once more — any good food, free 
from dust and mold, will serve her purpose well 
if she is given enough of it. Special care should 
always be exercised to see that hay and grain 
fed to pregnant mares are absolutely free from 
dust or mold or other evidences of decay. Abor- 
tion is a likely consequence of feeding moldy 
hay or grain. Changes of food are not advisa- 
ble and are to be avoided. 

It is, however, impossible to work brood 
mares where a large number are kept. Plenty 
of exercise is an essential to good health in all 
horses and this is best given idle mares in win- 
ter by allowing them the run of a laTge field. 
Perhaps the best exercising ground for brood 
mares in all parts of the country is a large pas- 
ture on which a goodly portion of the herbage 
has been allowed to mature. Anywhere in the 
combelt blue grass grows luxuriantly, and if it 

70 



MANAGEMENT OF BKOOD MARES. 71 

is not grazed closely after the autumn rains 
oome, but allowed to grow rank and thick, it 
will cure on the ground and prove a great at- 
traction in cold weather, even if the snowfall is 
rather heavy. Mares will do a lot of hustling to 
get such herbage in winter. An ideal pasture 
for this purpose has trees enough on it to form 
some shelter. 

Brood mares should be kept out of stalkfields. 
Cornstalks which are left to leach and blacken 
and rot as they grew are indigestible at the best, 
and there is usually a lot of smut (ergot) and 
other harmful matter, the nature of which is 
not clearly understood, available in a cornfield. 
If a pasture such as has been described can not 
be provided, free range of some sort must be. 

Brood "mares are usually quarrelsome and 
many accidents are due to their innate meanness 
of disposition. One of the commonest sights on 
a large farm in winter is some cross old mare, 
with her ears laid back, rushing wickedly at 
some unoffending companion and chasing her 
off, for no other reason than that the ill-natured 
one is the boss. Often if some show of resist- 
ance is made, the aggressor will whirl and plant 
her heels in some more or less vulnerable part 
of the mare attacked. On account of this sort 
of disposition being common in pregnant mares 
they should have abundant freedom whenever 
any large number of them are turned together. 



72 THE HORSE BOOK. 

To turn eight or ten mares into a small yard is 
to invite trouble of a costly character. 

The watering-trough is a fruitful source of 
grief. The boss mare always considers that she 
alone has a divine right to drink and she does 
her best to prove it by rushing the others away 
from the water. All this indicates that some 
common sense care of such animals at such 
times is essential. Another foolish trick we 
often see played is to turn a lot of mares and 
colts out at the same time and head them on the 
run for a narrow gate. Every one of them 
wants to go through the opening at the same 
moment, and accidents often result from their 
crowding. It seems to be a genuine pleasure 
to some cross old matron to lash out freely and 
bite hard when there is no show for her com- 
panions to get beyond her reach. It is far 
safer, though it takes a little longer time, to let 
horses out a few together and see that the cross 
mares are well outside the gate before the rest 
come to it. Also see to it that the gate is plenty 
wide enough. Use woven wire for fencing with 
one barb-wire on the top, not less than 52 inches 
from the ground, the woven wire being 48 inches 
wide. KeejJ fences in repair and allow no dam- 
age to go unrepaired a moment longer than it is 
necessary to fix it, once it is discovered. 

It is astounding that men have seen the same 
old tricks of the same old mares for years, lost 
money by them and yet not moved a hand to 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 73 

remedy the trouble. There is no sense in per- 
mitting mares to quarrel and jam and fight and 
crowd. If one is entirely boss of all the rest 
and is inclined to be reasonably peaceable she 
will not do harm if she is intelligently handled, 
but if she is wicked and vicious she should be 
kept by herself. It is all stuff and nonsense 
about the greatest mares always being cross. 
Mark this well : it is the little things that make 
for complete success. If only one-half of the 
colts which annually go wrong through careless- 
ness of their owners should be kept right, mil- 
lions of dollars would be added yearly to far- 
mers' bank accounts. 

Good shelter brood mares must have. The 
ideal condition is when each mare can have a 
boxstall to herself, but few mares are equipped 
in this way. The ideal breeding stable con- 
sists of boxstalls facing the south, with a small 
yard in front of each, the yards being separated 
by fences over or through which the mares may 
hob-nob for company's sake, yet not injure each 
other. Every farm, though, should have at least 
two such boxes. A good tight shed well protect- 
ed on the north and west and open to the south 
will do very well for mares in cold weather if 
they have plenty of room. A spacious yard 
should be in front of the shed, facing to the 
south and well drained. A comfortable dry bed 
of straw should always be provided for horses 
young and old, no matter how they are kept. It 



74 THE HOESE BOOK. 

is comfortable for them to rest on and it absorbs 
the fertilizing elements. A wet jilace for horses 
to stay in, day or night, is very bad. 

The watering-trough is usually in the yard, 
but no matter where it is it should always be 
raised above the level of the surrounding 
ground and kept dry by the plentiful use of 
gravel. A concrete trough is the best, with a 
concrete platform entirely around it, well found- 
ed and slightly above the rest of the ground. 
If ice accumulates around the trough in winter 
chop the ice away. Use a tank heater. Ice-cold 
water is bad for all horses, but do not go to 
the other extreme and get the water too hot. 
Just get the chill off. In any case always do 
something to insure dry footing that is not slip- 
pery around the watering place. If in mixed 
weather in winter ice forms in other parts of 
the yard, take the glare off it somehow so that 
the mares may not slip. It pays well to watch 
these minor points in raising horses. Well 
water is best for them to drink. Creeks and 
sloughs are frequent and fruitful sources of 
disease infection. 

In feeding idle mares it is poor policy to let 
them run to hay or straw stacks at will and stuff 
themselves with coarse fodder. Bright clover 
hay that was gotten into the barn without rain 
and is entirely free from dust and mold is, used 
in moderation, the best possible roughage for 
brood mares and young horses. Eemember 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MAKES, 75 

dusty, moldy or otherwise spoiled clover hay is 
about as bad for horses as it well can be. Al- 
falfa hay is much like clover and with both an 
equal quantity of prairie or timothy hay should 
be used. Well cured corn fodder may be fed in 
limited amounts, but, frankly, I have never 
liked it. I prefer whole fodder to the shredded 
article. If it is intended to use this sort of 
roughage for horse-feed, it is best to cut the 
corn when it is quite green, so that the product 
may be more nutritious and more easily digest- 
ed when it is dry. Shredded fodder makes ex- 
cellent bedding. Oat hay is palatable and ex- 
cellent results are obtained from its use. Many 
who have used it report much advantage gained 
from feeding sorghum fodder in cold weather, 
say from the beginning of winter to the middle 
of January. After that sorghum should not 
be fed. It seems that the thawing weather 
usually experienced about that time and later 
works some change, probably of a fermentive 
nature, that does not agree with horses. Millet 
hay is an abomination and so is the so-called 
Hungarian. Too much hay is usually fed to all 
farm horses, even in idleness. It is never good 
practice to keep hay in front of horses all the 
time. They mess over it and cull out the choic- 
est portions, and there is a lot of waste. Eather 
feed them regularly two or three times a day 
just enough so they will clean it up and come 
with keen appetite to the next meal. 



76 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

Brood mares should always have grain dur- 
ing the winter. No set rule can be laid down 
as to quantity, but they should have enough to 
keep them in good strong round flesh without 
getting fat. The caretaker must gauge the ra- 
tion necessary according to the need and capac- 
ity of the individual. Each mare should have 
her own manger and be tied up while she is 
eating. This takes time and some bother, it is 
true, but it pays. When each mare is tied up 
all accidents are avoided, and each gets just 
what she should have and what is intended for 
her. If mares are promiscuously fed at a large 
trough the stronger get the most and the weaker 
the least or none at all, and the proper order is 
just reversed. Moreover when they are tied 
up at feeding time the mean ones can do no 
harai and each mare is seen at close range at 
least twice a day, which is no bad thing in itself. 

Stalls with mangers for grain feeding mares 
can be cheaply and strongly constructed. Com- 
mon sense will dictate how. Let each mare be 
put in her place a few times and she will soon 
learn where to go. A horse learns most quickly 
through the- medium of the feedbox. Keep hal- 
ters on their heads and have a short rope fitted 
with a snap fastened in each stall. When the 
mare goes into her stall snap the tie-rope into 
the ring of her halter. When they are turned 
out of the stalls after eating, stretch a long rope 
run through rings on the stall posts and draw 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 77 

it tight. This will keep the mares out of the 
stalls when they are not feeding or when they 
are not wanted there. The hay may be fed in 
racks. 

Corn is a very general food for brood mares, 
but it is the poorest on the entire list, though 
not so bad when fed in conjunction with clover 
hay. Oats and bran form the best ration all 
winter long — about one-fourth or even one-third 
bran by weight. It is best to feed it dry. Sugar 
beets, carrots or rutabagas are excellent for 
mares in winter — indeed for all horses — and 
once they are accustomed to them mares may 
have them in large quantities, though perhaps 
some seven or eight pounds per head per day 
will be about right as a steady diet. They may 
be fed either cooked or raw, but preferably raw. 
Time was when I considered the feeding of slop- 
py stuff a necessity in properly wintering brood 
mares, but experience has shown me that dry 
feeding is best. Therefore I prefer uncooked 
food. Silage I regard as a horse killer, though 
some men say they have fed it with success. 
Any one is, of course, free to experiment all he 
wants to in feeding silage to horses if he desires 
to do so, but if fed at all it should be in such 
small quantities that it does not amount to much 
one way or other. Mark this, though: if the 
silage is moldy it will kill as surely as a rifle. 
Regularity in feeding is of much benefit. Feed 



78 THE HOKSE BOOK, 

each day at the same hours, either two or three 
times. 

In feeding horses it is well to remember that 
it is an easy matter to keep them fat and hearty 
if they are at first gradually accustomed to the 
food they are to receive and then are given 
plenty of it. It is the sudden and great change 
that hurts. As has been said before, there is no 
wonderful secret formula about the feeding of 
horses. The fattest horse I know is 27 years 
of age and subsists chiefly on stale bread and 
damaged bananas. Another very fat old horse 
I am acquainted with lives on edible refuse 
culled on a garbage route — cabbage leaves, ba- 
nana skins, crusts and the like — with a ration 
of tough slough hay that by good rights should 
be used for packing iron castings. Thousands 
of horses live, work hard and keep fat or fairly 
so in the cities on alimentation that is merely 
trash. All of this I mention as showing that 
there is no wonderful occult science in feeding 
horses. It is largely a matter of hard common 
sense. 

It should never be forgotten for an instant 
that there is a vast difference between the 
jjroper feeding of horses that are working and 
those that are idle. Brood mares doing nothing 
would not thrive on trash. They should have 
the best of everything and always the cleanest 
of food. Hence on tlie farm where the best is 
available, give it to them and give them enough. 



MANAGEMENT OF BEOOD MARES. 79 

Feeding succulence in the shape of the roots al- 
ready mentioned is far to be preferred to the 
feeding of soft food. Carrots are especially ben- 
eficial. Any skillful veterinarian will tell you 
that sudden changes of food tend to cause indi- 
gestion with its train of troubles— colic, inflam- 
mation and the like. Sticking to a regular diet 
is best. Oats and bran with clover and wild or 
timothy hay and a few roots as described form 
the ideal ration for broodmares working or idle, 
for the reason that the grain and hay supply 
the necessary nutriment for the mare and the 
foal she is carrying and the roots keep the diges- 
tive apparatus in good working order. 

In the chapter dealing with the physiological 
processes of conception it was made clear that 
there is no hocus-pocus to be invoked when 
mares are to be got with foal. If they are nor- 
mally healthy they should conceive. If they are 
not normally healthy they either will not con- 
ceive at all or ocasionally at best. It is plain then 
that to turn a mare suddenly from a diet of dry 
grain and hay to pasture and from work to idle- 
ness will so upset the system as to render con- 
ception unlikely. Similarly to take a mare up 
out of pasture and put her on a diet of grain and 
hay will have no better results. Wlien the mare 
is to be bred, let her be kept exactly as she has 
been kept, making no changes. The quieter a 
mare can be kept about the time she is embraced 
by the horse the better it will be for her. Long, 



80 THE HORSE BOOK. 

hard drives to and from the horse should be 
avoided. If it is desired to road a mare any 
great distance to the stallion, arrange to take 
her to him slowly and to leave her near him for 
a time. 

A mare bred on the ninth day (or therea- 
bouts) after foaling will quite generally con- 
ceive, but there is wide difference of opinion as 
to the proper day on which a mare should be re- 
turned to the horse to be tried. Authorities 
never have agreed as to this and probably never 
will. Mares differ greatly in the recurrence of 
their periods of heat, though not so much so as 
to render a general rule impossible. Each man 
should size up the condition of his mare with re- 
lation to returning her, but the weight of au- 
thority is in favor of around the eighteenth day, 
then the twenty-fifth and the thirty-second. She 
should have these three chances to take the horse 
before being considered safely settled. If con- 
ception has taken place the attentions of the 
horse in the teazing process will not cause the 
impregnation to fail. 

Some mares show no signs of heat and stead- 
ily refuse to take the horse. This sort of a case 
is comparatively rare, but it is one that need 
cause no trouble. If a mare is never willing to 
be embraced by the stallion and it is desired to 
get her to breeding, hopple her securely and 
breed her anyhow. It will be found that she 
will come around more or less peaceably in from 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 81 

18 to 21 days after being bred in this way. In- 
cidentally it may be said that this is trne of 
most farm animals — certainly of cows and ewes, 
as well as mares. Mares, of course, will make a 
tremendous fuss, but that must be put up with 
because it is for the good of all parties con- 
cerned. I have no intention of straying out of 
the equine field, but I have by advocating this 
practice helped more than one dairyman out 
who could not induce his cows and heifers to 
come around so that they would have their 
calves in the early winter. If any one wants 
good early lambs, moreover, let him get his ram 
so that he is not afraid — a good active chap — 
hold the ewe by the head, let the ram serve her, 
and then see if she will not come around loving- 
ly in due course after the forced service. I do 
not advocate forced service except as a last re- 
sort, but it will work every time and there is no 
danger in resorting to it if the mare is so han- 
dled that she can not injure the stallion. 

Always be careful- to set down accurately the 
dates on which the mares were covered. On 
the average, as has already been stated, the 
pregnancy will last not far from forty-eight 
weeks, or about 340 days. A calendar costs 
nothing. On one that is of fairly good material 
mark the dates of covering and trying, then 
mark the day at the end of forty-eight weeks 
from the date of the last mating. As that time 
draws near watch the mare closely. Just how 



82 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

close a mare may be worked to her book date no 
man can tell at long range, but usually up to 
within ten days, if the work is straight going 
and does not require backing up. Never make 
an in-foal mare back up a load. The most in- 
fallible sign of approaching parturition is the 
appearance of the wax on the end of the teats. 
This begins to show generally about three days 
before the foal comes. When the mare is let 
up, say about the 326th day, give her a roomy 
boxstall, cutting the grain ration in half, but 
seeing to it that she gets plenty of exercise at 
first. Reduce the proportion of grain and in^ 
creasing the proportion of bran, but what- 
ever food she is getting, make no sudden change 
— merely reduce it in quantity. See that the 
stall is freely disinfected, thoroughly cleaned 
and freshly bedded — and then keep it scrupu- 
lously clean. 

After the wax forms on the dugs see closely 
to the mare, but do not bother her. Unseen 
watch her as well as it may be done, but by no 
means fuss around her, for there is no mare that 
will bring forth her young in the presence of 
man if it is to be avoided. It is necessary that 
the caretaker must be handy by at night to ren- 
der assistance if it is needed, but the mare will 
be harassed hurtfully if she is aware that she 
is being watched. I have known a mare to stand 
all night when everything indicated imminent 
parturition, and then when I went to get a hur- 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 83 

riecl bite of breakfast in the morning, drop her 
foal with neatness and dispatch. On other occa- 
sions I have known mares, which knew they were 
being watched, stand until the foals came from 
them in that position. The wisest way is to fix 
some sort of a peep-hole and, making no noise, 
be able through it to see the mare but be imseen 
by her. Too much fussing at foaling time is 
worse than none at all. 

If the mare shows after repeated effort that 
she can not deliver her foal and the presenta- 
tion is normal, invoke the professional aid of 
the veterinarian, but do not be in too big a hurry 
about it. Give her plenty of chance to work out 
her own salvation and never go to pulling and 
hauling on the foal. If the birth is easy and 
normal let the mare and foal alone. If trouble 
of any kind is observed get to it quickly. Usual- 
ly after foaling the mare will get up and try to 
see to her foal. After she is on her feet offer 
her a drink of gruel made by putting a pound of 
fine oatmeal in half a bucket of ' water from 
which the chill has been taken. Never try quick- 
ly to hoist the foal onto his feet and bun- 
dle him around to the dug to get his first suck. 
Take it easy. Any hurrying of his natural in- 
clination is bad for him. 

If the mare shows after a reasonable time 
that she can not deliver the foal, or if examina- 
tion discloses that there is an abnormal presen- 
tation, send post haste for the veterinarian and 



84 THE HORSE BOOK. 

get liim just as quickly as the best horse in the 
stable can travel. The foal should come, nor- 
mally, first the forefeet, then the nose, and if 
these are not all in evidence, get the practitioner 
at once — on the dead run. It is amazing how 
much a mare can stand during parturition for so 
highly organized a form of life, but the fewer 
chances one takes the better it is. I make no 
attempt to detail didactically the various abnor- 
mal presentations, though they are compara- 
tively common, for the reason that when the 
average man goes to fussing with a case of the 
kind trouble of the most troublous variety is on 
hand. 

During the closing period of its fetal exist- 
ence there collects in the intestines of the foal 
the fecal substance known as meconium. This 
must be got rid of shortly after birth and usual- 
ly is, the milk in the mare 's udder at parturition, 
known as colostrum, having an aperient action. 
There is nothing far out of the common about 
this colostrum. Its chief peculiarity physically 
is that its fat globules are very large. Its ape- 
rient action is due, probably, to its long reten- 
tion in the udder and to the mild fermentive 
' process which has been going on in it for some 
little time prior to its withdrawal. The milk 
which is secreted within an hour after the with- 
drawal of the colostrum has no aperient action 
to speak of, and hence it is believed that the ac- 
tion so necessary to the foal is derived from 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MAEES, 85 

some principle evolved during the retention of 
tlie colostrum in the udder, which sets up a mild 
form of indigestion and so induces the peristal- 
tic action of the bowels which removes the me- 
conium. 

If the foal gets his first hold on the maternal 
dug within an hour from birth, that will be all 
right. Usually the meconium will pass away 
easily within five or six hours, but sometimes it 
will not. If it does not come within twenty- 
four hours and the foal presents a droopy, list- 
less appearance, eye not bright, ears lopped 
over, then the first thing to be done is to give 
him two ounces of castor oil. In five hours more 
relief will usually have been gained and the ap- 
pearance of the youngster will change greatly 
for the better. Peristaltic action will be caused 
and the fecal matter will be removed. At the 
time of administering the castor oil give also an 
injection of water at blood heat and a little 
glycerine — a teaspoonful of glycerine and 
enough of the warm water to make two ounces— 
not more. Inject this gently into the rectum 
with a common two-ounce hard rubber syringe 
and go slow. This will lubricate the passage 
and induce the foal to endeavor to pass the fecal 
matter. The meconium is in such cases a yel- 
lowish, rather hard, waxy substance. If given 
as directed the injection cannot do any harm 
and may be repeated every hour. 

There is, of course, no digestive action in the 



86 THE HORSE BOOK. 

new-born foal. The entrance of something into 
the stomach is necessary to start the machinery 
into motion. If this is not affected by the colos- 
trmn, there is nothing so good as castor oil and 
the injection described. Never try to fill the 
little foal np with copious douches of soapsuds 
or even plain warm water. Only a very little 
is needful. To discover if peristaltic action— 
as the wormlike motion of the intestines is 
named — is going on, hold the ear close to the 
left flank of the foal. If all goes well the noise 
heard there will indicate that the small intes- 
tines are in working order, which is the first ob- 
ject sought. The noise on the right side will 
indicate what is doing in the larger intestines. 
If the meconium is not passed in six hours after 
the administration of the castor oil, the dose 
should be repeated. 

Joint-ill, or omphalo phlebitis, as this disease 
is called by the veterinarian, is something of 
which every foal has to run the gauntlet. This 
disease is not caused by a specific germ, but is 
the result of mixed infection by filth germs. 
Aerobic germs are those which flourish in light 
and air ; anaerobic gerins those which thrive in 
damp places shut off from light and air. The 
mixed infection which causes joint-ill contains 
germs of both sorts. Stable litter is, outside of 
the dirt of the street, the most fruitful of mi- 
crobe life of all common substances. Great care 
should therefore always be taken to have the 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 87 

foal come on a clean bed, in a clean place thor- 
oughly disinfected and well lighted. Sunlight is 
a great destroyer of filth germs. 

Fortunately the micro-organisms which cause 
joint-ill are very easily destroyed. They may 
be said to enter the circulation of the foal by the 
large vein at the navel, or umbilical vein, and to 
prevent such entrance or invasion ligation of the 
navel or umbilical cord is to be advised. These 
same germs are always to be dreaded when 
babies are born, and we all know that ligation 
of the cord is always practiced in the human 
family. Being easily destroyed, these germs 
are readily combated by the application of any 
good antiseptic, but corrosive sublimate is to be 
preferred, using a 1-500 solution to swab the 
small portion of the cord left jDendant from the 
body of the foal immediately after ligation — 
which means tying a string around the cord. 
Ligation should be as close to the body as possi- 
ble, and the string should be surgeon's silk. The 
corrosive sublimate solution should be applied 
twice daily to the pendulous portion of the cord 
until it drops off. Remember these germs are 
everywhere. They are merely filth germs. The 
cleaner and lighter the place in which the mare 
foals the less will be the risk the foal will run of 
infection. Always clean out the stall after the 
mare has foaled and burn the litter. The fluids 
incident to foaling seem to promote germ pro- 
duction in an amazing degree. 



88 THE HORSE BOOK, 

After foaling the mare may have her ration 
gradually increased to its usual size. As a rule 
when a mare has been worked regularly almost 
up to her parturition a holiday of two weeks 
after it should see her in shape to go back to 
light work. About the third day, or even on the 
second, if the weather is fine, give her a chance 
to get out into some dry lot for exercise. At 
the end of two weeks she should have been grad- 
ually gotten back onto her usual feed and of 
course she should run out in the lot whenever 
she wants to. Wlien it comes time to put her 
back in the harness leave the foal in the boxstall 
when she is taken out to work. He will fret at 
first, but he will soon get accustomed to doing 
without his mammy. At first work the mare but 
half a day. She will be soft and worry greatly, 
probably heating herself up quite badly. A 
good plan in such cases is, on coming in at noon, 
to milk the mare almost dry and then put her in 
a stall in the work stable to eat a little hay and 
cool off. After she has cooled off so she may 
be watered she may be taken to the boxstall, 
turned in with the foal and fed her grain. Be- 
ginning with half a day in this fashion, she may 
be gradually toughened back into doing her full 
share of the regular team work. Never let a 
foal suck milk from a warm mare. It sets up 
indigestion and starts scours. Keep a bucket of 
water in the boxstall so the foal may take a 
drink whenever he wants it. 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 89 

Quite often it happens that a motherless foal 
has to be raised by hand. This is an easy enough 
job, but it is one requiring an infinity of care 
and patience. It may be set down as a fact 
which there is no disputing that a newly born 
animal never needs much food. I have twice 
reared foals which never sucked their mothers. 
The milk of a mare has more sugar and less fat 
in it than the milk of a cow, but the difference 
is not so great that there is any danger of killing 
the foal by feeding it cow's milk intelligently. 
Most mares' milk will show not quite 3 per cent 
of fat, most cows' not quite 4, so that the dif- 
ference is not so very decided after all. In rear- 
ing a very young orphan foal get the milk of as 
fresh a cow as possible and the poorer in butter 
fat the better. Do not use Jersey milk for this 
purpose. Take a dessert-spoonful of the best 
white granulated sugar and add enough warm 
water to dissolve it. Then add three table- 
spoonsful of limewater and enough new milk to 
make a pint. A costless apparatus for feeding 
the foal is thus contrived: Get an old teapot 
and scald it thoroughly. Over the spout tie se- 
curely the thumb of an old kid glove, and with 
a darning needle pierce holes in the kid. Warm 
the milk to blood heat, pour a part of it into the 
teapot, and when it flows through the spout into 
the glove thumb, an excellent imitation of the 
maternal teat will be formed, which the foal 
will suck promptly. Let him have half a teacup- 



90 THE HORSE BOOK. 

fill every hour at first. It is a bothersome chore, 
but it must be done. If scours supervene, give a 
dose of two ounces of castor oil and discontinue 
the milk for a couple of feeds, giving the sugar 
and limewater as before, but substituting plain 
water for the milk, or feed nothing at all. Foals 
reared by hand will scour more or less, but the 
castor oil will generally fix them up all right. 

As the foal grows older day by day the quan- 
tity of milk fed may be increased and the num- 
ber of feeds decreased until according to his 
thrift he may be fed first six times a day and 
then four times. If he is carried along nicely he 
may at the end of three weeks be fed the milk 
and limewater or milk alone from a bucket, 
eliminating the sugar, but he should never be 
given all the milk he will drink at that age. 
Watch closely for signs of scouring, which are 
a sure sign of indigestion, and cut down on the 
quantity of milk fed for a day. Give castor oil 
as before only in three or four-ounce doses. 
Always have fresh water so the foal may drink 
if he is thirsty. 

A foal should begin to nibble at grain when he 
is around a month old, sometimes earlier. His 
first food should be oatmeal. He should be al- 
lowed such trifling quantity of this as he will 
eat. It will only be a very little at first. When 
he is six weeks old a little bran may be added. 
At two months old some sweet skimmilk may be 
substituted for part of the new milk and so on 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 91 

until when lie is three months old the orphan foal 
may have about all the sweet skimmilk he wants 
three times a day. He will then be eating plenty 
of grain and grass and he should have hay if he 
wants it. Let him have grass as soon as he will 
eat it. Never feed sour milk or sweet milk from 
unclean vessels. Keep him in a lot near the 
house and give him company if it is only a runty 
calf. Pet him and coddle him all of the time 
that can be spared and in general treat him as 
every orphan should be treated — with loving 
kindness and care. Never confine him closely in 
a stall. Let him run. The rearing of a mother- 
less foal is mostly in the man or woman who 
essays the job. 

Foals to develop to their best should have 
about all the grain they will eat, and their dams 
should be well fed also. If the mares are 
worked their feeding need not bother any one. 
Their foals should have oatmeal and bran as 
already described to eat at will, only a little at 
a time, and the supply renewed often so as to 
keep it always fresh and sweet. As a general 
proposition I do not favor turning out on grass 
at night any horse that is working regularly, 
whether it is a nursing mare or any other work 
horse. It should be either one thing or the 
other — work and dry rations only, or grass and 
idleness; the two will not mix to advantage. 
The fill of green grass which work horses get at 
night in i3asture does them no good and it saves 



92 THE HORSE BOOK. 

nothing. If horses are to do a proper amount 
of work they must have about so much grain 
and hay anyway, and the fill of grass they get 
in pasture between dark and sunrise serves 
merely to overload their digestive apparatus. 
It is better to keep them in the stable and let 
them rest in peace. It is a mistake even to turn 
them out on Sundays or on odd days when they 
are not working. If they must be idle, reduce 
their grain rations and let them stay in the sta- 
ble and rest. When the foal gets old enough he 
may eat grass if he wants it and his grain as 
well, but the milk he sucks should always be the 
same. Hence let the feeding of the mare be uni- 
form. 

Mares that are kept in idleness must be 
turned to pasture for economy's sake, but they 
must also have grain and some hay, in varying 
proportion according to the growth of the grass, 
but always some. Shelter, too, is essential, not 
merely woods or a hedge, but a shed that is airy 
and dark into which they may run in the heat 
of the day to escape from the persecution of 
the flies and during hard storms. Somewhere 
close to the shed rig up a trough from which the 
foals may eat grain and around it construct a 
creep through which the foals may enter, but 
which will turn back the mares. This may be 
built satisfactorily by sinking posts in the 
ground around the trough at a distance of ten 
or twelve feet from it, and spiking round poles 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 93 

to them liigh enough so the foals may go under 
them, but too low for the mares to crawl beneath 
them. The foals will soon learn the trick. The 
mares should be fed elsewhere. . 

If the mares are not provided with a shed as 
described they should be taken up and housed 
during the hot days of fiytime and turned afield 
again at night. They should have bright hay to 
eat in addition to their grain during the day 
time and as the pasture grows more scanty in 
the fall their rations should be increased. Pas- 
turage may be supplemented by green corn- 
stalks, if only the latter are introduced into the 
diet gradually and the young ears may go with 
the stalks for a time. Then tear the ears off 
the most of the stalks. Let the foals have all 
the grain they want all the time. This with shel- 
ter in which to gain surcease from the troubling 
of the flies will keep them growing as they 
should. I do not know of anything that looks 
more like willful inhumanity of the most atro- 
cious character than a bunch of mares and colts 
standing in the fence corner of some bare, brown 
field in the broiling sun without anything to eat, 
tortured by the pestilential flies and stamping 
their feet to pieces in their efforts to rid them- 
selves of their pestiferous winged enemies. One 
of the most inhuman torture schemes of the 
most degraded of the human race is to tie a 
captive enemy to a stake in the sun and let the 
flies have full swing at him. Headhunting is a 



94 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

humane sport compared to this. The effect of 
fly-fighting in scanty pasture is always distin- 
guishable in the lean, stunted appearance of the 
poor animals so abused. It does not make much 
difference what mares are fed on grass so long 
as their feed is not suddenly changed. 

If foals are thus cared for during the summer 
the weaning process is an easy one. When a 
foal is five months old he should be weaned. It 
is best to take him away from his dam for good 
and all when the break is made, cut down her 
grain ration and milk some of the milk from her 
udder three or four times the first day and so 
on gradually decreasing until the flow ceases en- 
tirely. Work the mare right along. If she is 
not worked, cut out the grain ration altogether 
and feed hay only. Then when the mare is dry 
begin the grain feeding lightly once more. 

Finishing up the foal business there is no rea- 
son why mares should not produce fall colts if 
they happen to miss in the spring. If a mare is 
to be bred in the fall let it be not earlier than 
November, so that the foal may come in Octo- 
ber after the frosts have put the flies out of com- 
mission. A fall colt must be permitted to exer- 
cise. He may be allowed to potter about the 
farm buildings in a sort of go-as-you-please 
manner, picking his grain where he finds it, and 
he will, if he gets enough of it, grow finely. If 
he is shut up in a close stall he will surely go 
wrong. On the whole, however, it is much bet- 



MAl^AGEMENT OF BROOD MAEES. 95 

ter to liave the foals come in the spring. The 
chief advantage in having a mare bred in the 
fall is that it saves keeping her unproductive 
for a period of six months. 

Weanlings should have snug quarters during 
their first winter. Put them preferably two in 
a boxstall and feed them good oats and bran — 
one-fifth bran by weight — all they will clean up 
nicely and come hungry to their next meal. Feed 
them the choicest hay on the place, always free 
from dust and mold, and feed them often — a 
little at a time. No one can rear young horses 
properly without grain. Mark that well. Win- 
ter and summer they should have good grain 
feeding. Few, however, will give it to them. I 
have never yet been able to discover why many 
a farmer will feed 75 bushels of corn at 40 or 50 
cents a bushel to a steer to make him weigh say 
1,500 lb. and then sell him for 6 cents a pound, 
or $90 in all, and yet begrudge a single ear to a 
colt that at the same age on the same amount of 
grain might have been sold for $150 or more. 
Right now the same quantity of grain that will 
put a $90 steer on the market fat will put a 
three-year-old colt in shape to sell for twice the 
money — and yet few men grain their colts. 
Keep their feet level and their toes short. 

In pasture yearlings and two-year-olds should 
have grain according to the growth of the grass 
and the season. Keep them growing and fat, 
and always see well to their feet. Give them 



96 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

shelter into which they may escape from the at- 
tacks of the awful flies. These flies cost the 
farmers of the United States millions of dollars 
annually in lost horseflesh; any man is los- 
ing money when his horses are losing flesh. Do 
not close young horses in a field with cattle, 
sheep and swine, if it can be avoided. They do 
best by themselves or with cattle— always poor- 
ly with sheep and pigs. House them warmly in 
winter and always keep them growing and fat. 
This theory that forcing a colt to root up his 
living at some old straw stack on the lee side of 
a barb-wire fence makes him tough is all tom- 
myrot. Such practice merely prevents the colt 
from making such growth as he should make, 
and what is more, it is inhuman, and the man 
who is guilty of it is deserving of the attention 
of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Animals. If he can not see that he is depleting 
his pocketbook he should at least be estopped 
from cruelly mistreating his dumb animals. 

Stallions will, of course, have to be taken up 
and kept by themselves the summer after they 
are a year old. Many a foal has been got by a 
yearling. Regarding the best time to castrate 
colts men always have differed and always will. 
As a rule it is best to order their castration 
when they are about a year old. If one is unde- 
veloped about the head and neck he may be al- 
lowed to run entire for six months or a year 
longer. The castration of horses at any age is a 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 97 

simple operation and when performed by a qual- 
ified practitioner adverse results are not to be 
expected. There is very little risk in castrating 
even old stallions. I have seen them altered at 
all ages from two months to seventeen years. I 
never knew one castrated at a very early age 
which developed an attractive neck and head. 
The longer a stallion remains entire the heavier 
and coarser his head, neck and shoulders will 
become. A stag — as a stallion castrated after 
maturity is called — is seldom of much account 
in the harness. His great heavy forehand is too 
much for him to navigate with after he is de- 
prived of his masculinity. Many of the stallions 
which in their middle age have been converted 
into alleged heavy harness horses have been a 
byword and a derision for the reason that they 
tired so easily and mostly on account of their too 
heavy heads and necks. Methods of rearing 
young stallions from two years old have already 
been discussed. 

Another point on which there always has been 
and always will be a difference of opinion is as 
to breeding two-year-old fillies. In my opinion 
there is no reason why fillies of this age should 
not be bred, provided that they are well grown 
and their owner is willing to feed and care for 
them properly during their pregnancy. Nor do 
I believe that there is any reason why a mare 
which has a foal when she is three should not 
be bred regularly year after year — when she is 



98 THE HOESE BOOK. 

three and four, and so on — though it is a quite 
general custom in Britain to breed mares when 
they are two, let them go over at three and breed 
them again at four to foal when five years old. 
A poorly nourished, anemic, stunted two-year- 
old filly should not be bred. This applies to all 
sorts of horses and ponies. The breeder who 
does not develop his fillies proj^erly on judicious 
and plentiful feeding should not essay to breed 
them as two-year-olds. 

Eegarding the growth of horses, it may be 
said that roughly speaking a colt which is prop- 
erly reared will make rather more than half his 
growth in his first year. This rule will of 
course be more or less upset in abnormal cases, 
such as when a colt is badly treated during his 
first year and then given good care during the 
next three, but in such a case he will never come 
to be what he would have been had he been han- 
dled aright and kept growing from birth on- 
ward. The larger the ultimate size is to be the 
greater the proportion of it will be made the 
first year. The draft-bred foal that does not 
weigh 1,200 lb. or over the day he is twelve 
months old will have a slim chance to fill a draft- 
er 's bill. The best plan is to give them always 
what grain they will clean up nicely and let it 
go at that. It is bad at any time to let colts get 
thin. It is worst of all to let them lose the flesh 
that was born on them. It is very nearly as bad 
to let them get thin after weaning. Loss sus- 
tained at such tinaes will never be regained. 



MANAGEMENT OF BKOOD MAIiES. 99 

Breaking' a colt should begin when the young- 
ster is a few days old. Fit a little headstall to 
its head and leave a strap 6 or 8 inches long 
hanging from it. Catch the foal by this strap 
often and get him thoroughly accustomed to be- 
ing handled, to close association with mankind, 
to have his legs rubbed and his feet picked up. 
A foal is a friendly little fellow as a rule and 
likes to play and be petted. I have had three or 
four of them at a time that I would wrestle with, 
putting their forefeet on my shoulders. It is 
always bad to "baby" a horse, but with a foal 
it is different. Familiarity with mankind and 
the consequent fearlessness accruing are safe in- 
surance against trouble when it comes to break- 
ing to harness. Early teach the foal to lead. 
Have a fairly long lead-strap, get behind him 
and make him go ahead. That is the right way. 
The wrong way is to get in front of him and try 
to drag him along. Gentle persuasion with the 
whip may be necessary, but if the foal has been 
gently handled he will not be afraid and will 
quickly learn to go on about his business. Make 
him do whatever you set out to teach him to do. 
Breaking colts or horses is much like raising or- 
phan colts— it is largely in the man. A horse, 
young or old, is a stupid sort of a beast at the 
best and unless he is intelligently raised is pos- 
sessed by fear. Then under strange circum- 
stances he will do anything and everything 
which he ought not to do; he gets rattled and 



100 THE HOKSE BOOK, 

then lie does not know what he is doing. On the 
other hand if he has confidence in tlie man wlio 
has hold of him, his master's voice will reas- 
sure him. 

There is a whole lot too much fuss, as a rule, 
made about breaking young horses. If the 
breaking is made a gradual process it will come 
to a head much as a matter of course. If they 
are allowed to run practically wild until three or 
four years old and then suddenly caught up and 
the effort made to force them to do something 
they know nothing about there will be trouble 
and there always is. It may be advanced that 
farmers have not time to fuss with co^ts as ad- 
vocated. That is a poor excuse. The farmer 
who has not time to fuss with that which puts 
dollars in his pockets would better be in other 
business. 

I figure that it is best to break colts and ac- 
custom them to the harness at two years of age. 
First of all, on the farm, take a thick straight 
bit and buckle it in the mouth with two short 
straps to the square irons in the ends of the 
cheek pieces of the halter. Let them stand tied 
in the stall and they will mouth and champ on 
the bit and so toughen the cheeks, oT parts of 
the lips which the bit contacts, in that process. 

Now get ready a leather surcingle with a loop 
strap on top and buckles stitched half-way down 
each side. Buckle the surcingle around the colt 's 
body and adjust a check rein moderately tight. 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 101 

Or if desired a regular bitting harness may be 
used. This consists of a bridle and check-rein, 
a surcingle and crupper and two side lines, run- 
ning from the bit to buckles on each side of the 
circingie. The bit in a bitting harness usually 
is a thick snaffle with a line of little metal pen- 
dants called "keys" hanging to the joint in the 
middle of it. The object of these keys is by 
annoying the tongue to make the colt champ the 
bit and so toughen his cheeks. After the colt 
has been allowed to go awhile with his head 
checked up, attach the side lines and buckle them 
moderately tight. Turn him out thus rigged in- 
to the yard and let him go a few hours a day for 
a week. Then substitute real reins for the side- 
lines and drive him around until he knows how 
to guide this way and that, to stop at the word 
"whoa" and to step up when directed. Break 
the colt to stand absolutely still when being har- 
nessed. That is a first essentiaL A horse that 
is perpetually stepping around while being har- 
nessed is but half broken at best. Also, when 
the time comes make him understand that he 
must stand stock still while being hooked up to 
any kind of a rig and stand there until he gets 
the word to move on. Do not forget this. It 
means money. Horses of the roadster stamp, or 
any other stamp for that matter, are often in- 
dulged in lunging forward the moment they are 
checked up. This is all wrong. A gentleman's 
horse is broken so that he stands until his owner 



102 THE HOESE BOOK. 

adjusts his apron or robe, takes up his reins and 
gives the word to go on. The time to teach a 
horse these pleasant ways is when he is first 
broken. Likewise teach him to back pleasantly 
and always with a pull of the reins. Do not try 
to teach the colt too much, but insist that he stop 
as instantly as possible at the word "whoa," 
back when told to do so and the pull on the reins 
shows what is wanted, and to get up promptly 
when the word is given. Heroic measures are 
sometimes necessary, but as a rule the exercise 
of gentleness will win out sooner. A horse is a 
stupid beast and infinite patience, coupled with 
determination, is absolutely necessary to do 
much with him. Some men think that they are 
making something by going into a small yard 
anned with a whip and making a colt do stunts. 
I have never been able to see where they gained 
anything, for the market for circus horses is 
limited and a colt needs only to be broken to 
harness properly to make him worth all the 
money he will ever bring. 

After the colt has been driven around by the 
reins and has learned to guide to the right and 
left, to turn around, "get up" and "whoa," 
hitch him into a long-shafted breaking cart sin- 
gle, or double with some steady-going horse, not 
necessarily an old one, but always reliable. It is 
a mistake to hook a colt up the first time with 
some old plug that can not get out of his own 
way. He will never step fast enough for the 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 103 

young one and the latter will fret and worry. 
There are easier and shorter ways to break 
horses than this, but it pays to take time as de- 
scribed for the reason that the process outlined 
if followed will develop a mouth not too hard 
and not too soft, and that is worth money either 
to sell or to keep. Remember that a horse is a 
creature of habit. It takes repetition to drill 
things into his brain. His instinct is admirable. 
He will bring you home safely the darkest and 
stormiest night that ever blew and the next day 
bolt and wreck the rig because he chanced to 
meet a black pig when he was habituated to 
meeting white pigs in that particular spot. 
When he is young his brain is more plastic and 
sensitive to impression than when he grows 
older. Habits he contracts at two years old 
will be retained through life. 

When colts have been well broken as two- 
year-olds they may be turned out for the rest 
of the year. They will never forget their les- 
sons. There is no sense in trying to lay down 
set rules; these very general directions must 
serve. The man who breaks colts finds some 
new situation to deal with in every one he un- 
dertakes to educate. 

In all cases the bitting should be done as out- 
lined. See to it that the bit is always high 
enough up in the mouth. Keep it just so that it 
will not unduly press against the cheeks, but at 
the same time not so low that the horse will be 



104 THE HORSE BOOK. 

everlastingly hitching at it with his tongue try- 
ing to keep it comfortable in his mouth. Go 
easy with them all at first, but go through with 
everything that is undertaken. Never under 
any circumstances try to make colts pull out of 
a place where they have Leen stuck. One of the 
surest ways to make him balky is to get a colt 
stuck and then lick him because he has not 
strength to pull out his load. More than once 
on the soft prairie soils of the West I have had 
the wagon wheels cut down in the sod in spring- 
time and, after throwing off the small load of 
hay I had on at the time, started up the team 
of three-year-olds I was driving onto dry 
ground, and then carried the hay forkful by 
forkful out of the slough and loaded it onto the 
wagon again. It was deplorably hard labor, to 
be sure, but it paid. 

Rarey was a great handler of horses of some 
sorts and his tackle was a great invention. This 
tackle consists of two 'short straps fitted with 
D rings, a surcingle and a long rope. The straps 
are buckled around the front pasterns, the sur- 
cingle around the body. One end of the rope is 
spliced into the ring in the strap that goes 
around the pastern of the near fore leg. The 
free end of the rope is then passed through a 
ring on the underside of the surcingle and then 
down and through the ring in the strap around 
the pastern of the off fore foot. Then the rope 
end is brought up and passed through a ring 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES, 105 

sewed about half way down the off side of the 
surcingle. The horse can walk all right, trot and 
even run when the rope is slack, but a steady 
pull on the rope will jerk his fore feet up against 
the floor of his chest and down he goes on his 
knees and nose. A rasping hard fall takes the 
tuck out of most horses, two or three will usual- 
ly do the business for the most incorrigible, but 
it is a dangerous game to play. 

I have mentioned the Earey tackle only for 
the reason that its general use in colt-breaking 
has been advocated by one or two writers in 
high position, whose experience with it can not 
have been extensive. It should be used in colt- 
breaking only as a last resort. Horse-breaking, 
to be sure, is no job for a nursery governess, 
but there are only a very few colts — probably 
not one in 5,000— that ever need a fall in the 
Rarey tackle. 

Once upon a time I was employed by an im- 
porter of coaching stallions and one of his chief 
talking jooints was the facility with which the 
imported stallions of full age could be broken to 
harness. When some customer announced that 
he had to be shown the foreman and I took oc- 
casion to put the stallion in question through a 
course of sprouts with the Rarey tackle in a 
long shed deeply' bedded with shavings, and then 
sallied forth with him. As soon as the horse 
felt the body band of the harness tighten around 
him he was in mortal terror of being thrown 



106 THE HORSE BOOK. 

upon liis head again and usually stepped off in 
the long-shafted cart like a little lamb. Finally 
the foreman and I broke the neck of a valuable 
horse one day with the tackle and the talking 
point vanished like magic. Incorrigibly vicious 
horses may need Rareyizing, but these are few 
and far between and no farmer need ever find 
use for the tackle if he knows his business even 
in an elementary way. On the contrary the 
Earey tackle is a tool to be used only by the 
thoroughly experienced. It is by no means a 
necessary f ann implement. 

Good harness is one of the best advertise- 
ments a farmer or breeder can have. It is econ- 
omy to buy good leather and then keep it in 
good condition. There is a bit of a trick in 
hitching up a horse just right, but it is hard to 
state it didactically. In general the harness 
from the bridle to the crupper should fit 
"neither too free nor to bind" — meaning 
neither too loose nor too tight— but how can 
that happy medium be taught through the me- 
dium of cold type 1 It is worth dollars, though, 
to have the harness fit just right. The horse 
will work more contentedly and move more free- 
ly. The main thing is to have the harness good, 
have it fit right and then keep the life in the 
leather. Harness oils and dressings are cheap 
and it does not take long to fix up a double set. 
Keep the metal housings bright and clean. 

A farmer's business needs advertising just as 



MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 107 

much as the merchant's. No one need think that 
the packers and other great mercantile houses 
go to tremendous expense for fine horses, har- 
ness and rigs for nothing. The financial pros- 
perity of any firm may usually be gauged by 
its horses and wagons as turned out in the 
street. So it is with the farmer. Show me the 
farmer who drives to town a finely conditioned 
pair of horses, geared with good leather and 
hooked to a clean well cared for rig, and it is 
the one best bet that you are showing me a man 
whose credit is good at the bank and store. The 
banker, mostly a shrewd judge of men and man- 
ners, knows that the same qualities in human 
nature, which are reflected in such an outfit, 
make for success in business. On " the other 
hand tatterdemalion harness and ramshackle, 
filthy rigs indicate qualities and character which 
bankers do not cotton to when it comes to lend- 
ing money over their counters. 



CHAPTER VII. 

FITTING FOE SALE.-MARKET CLASSES 
OF HO'ESES.-TRADE TEEMS. 

To sell to the best advantage horses should 
be fat and well broken — the fatter and better 
broken they are, the better they will sell. Hence 
it pays to accustom all farm horses to as many 
of the terrifying sights and sounds of city life 
as may be met up with in the country — the lo- 
comotive, the trolley car, the automobile, thresh- 
ing machines, motorcycles and the like. I once 
knew a man who did a mighty good job on his 
young horses by taking them often to a sj^ot on 
the road over which the railway crossed on a 
high bridge and fill. It so happened that a pas- 
senger express, a local passenger train and a 
through freight came along one after the other 
about six o'clock in the evening, and it was 
rather the exception, spring, summer and fall, 
not to find him thereabouts at that time. His 
horses learned to let the trains go by above them 
when they could see them and when they could 
not see them, and as each train always whistled 
just as it passed over the bridge, the education 
was pretty thorough. This man was continually 
showing the locomotive and the trolley to his 
colts under divers circumstances and he enjoyed 
a steady demand for them at good prices even 
during the dull times. 

108 



MAEKET CLASSES OF HORSES. 109 

''Family broken" means a whole lot more 
now than it did a decade ago. Then a horse 
which would pass a traction engine and a sepa- 
rator all right was esteemed safe. Now that 
automobiles and trolley cars dot the landscape 
and the motorcyclist goes whizzing by, it is alto- 
gether a different story. A horse that is afraid 
of automobiles or trolley cars or locomotives is 
not worth a dollar for use anywhere near a 
large city and that is where the best prices are 
to be obtained. It is best to begin young with 
them. They learn more easily then. There 
should be no mistake about this, no maudlin 
sentiment about the wrongs the automaniacs are 
inflicting on the farmer. The auto has come to 
stay. It is an accomplished factor of modern 
civilization like the locomotive and the trolley 
car. Just laws are needed to curb the ambition 
of the madmen who career along the country 
roads too fast, but the automobile must be reck- 
oned with first, last and all the time. I have 
driven over most of the country surrounding 
Chicago. I know whereof I speak, the while 
sjanpathizing deeply with the inhabitants of 
rural districts traversed by roads which invite 
the crazy autoist. Nowadays when a young 
horse will stand fearlessly with a locomotive in 
front of him, a trolley car passing behind him 
and an automobile stationary but panting along- 
side of him, he may be considered very fairly 



110 THE HORSE BOOK. 

broken for a country horse, but he will still have 
much to learn. 

This is not the place to discuss the auto-on- 
the-rural-highway question. The horse must 
accommodate himself to the auto with its blind- 
ing headlights, the trolley car and the locomo- 
tive or go out of business. The law says that 
the auto has as much right to use the public road 
as the pedestrian or the horse, and no more, and 
the owner of the horse might just as well make 
up his mind to that fact first as last. It is no 
small trick to break horses to autos and trolley 
cars, but it can be done and it must be done if 
the farmer is to get all that is coming to him 
for his time and investment, not to speak at all 
of his personal safety and that of his wife and 
bairns. It is an un-American position to take 
that because autos are common the wife and 
babies can no longer drive on the public road. 
That sort of spirit would never have wrested 
from Great Britain the independence of which 
we are so proud. There are horses now and 
there will be horses after we are all dead. Make 
them safe for the women folks to drive. It has 
to come. 

To offer a thin horse for sale is to invite for 
him a lower price than he should bring. The 
trade demands fat horses. The farmer can more 
easily afford to feed his grain to horses than to 
any other domestic animal. Some one has to 
put the animals in condition and if the farmer 



MAKKET CLASSES OF HOESES. Ill 

will not do it, the feeder must, and the price the 
farmer receives must he lower in consequence. 
Many a time I have seen grain pay the farmer 
a dollar or more a bushel when used in fatten- 
ing horses. The experiments made along this 
line by the Illinois Experiment Station are right 
in point here. I commend the bulletin describ- 
ing them to all farmers. This feeding process 
is an easy one. Put the horses in stalls, tied by 
the head. Feed them all the grain and hay they 
will clean up and give them all the pure water 
they will drink. They must be brought to full 
feed gradually and the food must not be 
changed. Exercise is not necessary. Big draft- 
ers will gain as much as five or six or even seven 
pounds a day on all the corn they will eat. The 
feeders who make a business of fattening draft- 
ers for the market use corn mostly, with some- 
times a little bran, and they never change the 
feed from the time they start the horses until 
they land them in the market. This rule of no 
change applies absolutely. 

In the great markets horses are classed oc- 
cording to their "job." Attempts have been 
made to differentiate sharj^ly between the va- 
rious classes, but I shall make no effort to draw 
any strongly marked lines, for the reason that 
it is impossible to do so. One cannot mark 
didactically lines that exist only in the most 
shadowy form at best and are constantly chang- 
ing. Classes go by certain names all over the 



112 THE HORSE BOOK. 

country, but the horse that is referred to in 
one part of the country by one name may be 
very different from the horse which is referred 
to by identically the same term in another. If 
any one desires to post himself on this phase of 
the business he would best stand by the loading 
chutes in any of the great wholesale markets 
and note the horses that are shipped out to the 
various parts of the country. He will find, for 
instance, that Boston wagon horses, New York 
wagon horses and Pittsburg wagon horses are 
three entirely different sorts, though they are 
all wagon horses. How then is any one to ex- 
plain didactically what a wagon horse is? Fol- 
lowing, however, is a sketch in outline of mar- 
ket requirements. 

Just at present horses of draft blood are 
classed as drafters, loggers, feeders, wagon 
horses, chunks and farm workers, and with the 
exception of the first named two it is not always 
easy to separate them. Expressers form a class 
by themselves. Then come southern chunks and 
riff-raff. Horses without any draft blood in 
them at all — at least visibly so — are classed as 
gentlemen's roadsters or light harness horses, 
heavy harness horses, business or pleasure 
horses variously so-called, livery horses, south- 
ern drivers and other intermediate sorts of no 
special class or calibre, such as hearse horses, 
for which there is always more or less of a de- 
mand, and a few other kinds for which a spo- 



MAEKET CLASSES OF HORSES. 113 

radic inquiry develops periodically — spotted 
circus horses, for instance. Horses for the fire, 
patrol wagon and mounted police service come 
from the ranks of the expressers, being selected, 
the first two on account of strength and speed 
on the run, the latter for more or less excellence 
of saddle conformation, substance to carry 
weight and a bit of good looks as well. Cavalry 
and artillery horses are taken periodically by 
our own government and by foreign powers. 
The cavalry horse mostly purchased by Uncle 
Sam comes from the ranks of the business or 
pleasure horses and is mostly of trotting blood. 
No uniformity of type is insisted on. They 
come in all shapes, these troop horses. Officers' 
chargers are preferably of the conformation of 
the Kentucky saddle horse. Artillery horses 
are light expressers, weighing around 1,250 
pounds, and like the fire and patrol horses, able 
to run. 

Drafters run in the trade from 1,600 pounds 
upwards. The larger they are, the fatter and 
the more quality they possess, the better they 
sell. Loggers are inferior but big drafters. 
Wagon horses are a numerous delegation. They 
come in all sizes from 1,250 pounds to 1,450 
pounds, and in all shapes from the classy one 
almost a coacher in conformation and used to 
draw the delivery wagon of a dry goods house, 
to the roughest sort of a team fit only to pull 
dirt out of an excavation. The Boston wagon 



114 THE HORSE BOOK. 

horse weighs around 1,400 pounds, is preferably 
rather light in bone, of build almost typically 
Percheron and always very smooth. The east- 
ern wagon horse, taken mostly for New York 
trade, is coachlike in conformation and quality, 
smaller than the Boston article and handsome. 
The Pittsburg wagon horse is a ruggeder propo- 
sition altogether and in weight around 1,450 
pounds. This shows how futile it would be to 
try to describe wagon horses as a general classi- 
fication. Chunks are short and thick and drafty 
in conformation, range in weight from 1,250 to 
1,550 pounds and are variously sorted for va- 
rious localities. It is not easy to divide them off 
from the wagon horses. Southern chunks are 
light, weighing around 1,100 pounds or there- 
abouts, with less draft blood and more warm 
blood about them than any of the foregoing 
classes. Farm workers are anything and every- 
thing. If a horse in late winter and early spring 
will not class anywhere else, he goes as a farm 
worker or farm chunk. Feeders are thin 
horses of the drafter class. 

Expressers may briefly be described as over- 
grown, low-quality coachers. They must have 
a bit of draft blood about them to give them 
size, but it must not show in preponderance. 
They must be able to get out and trot quickly 
and nervily with a big load behind them. They 
range in weight from 1,250 to 1,500 pounds— 
high-headed, smoothly turned, good-acting 



° 3 

=■ 3 

5. ^ 
^ o 

IS 



'^ 1-1 




MAEKET CLASSES OF HORSES. 115 

horses with considerable style. Formerly 
bussers and cabbers, taken chiefly for export to 
England and France, and tram horses were ac- 
counted distinct classes that tailed on after the 
expressers, but the demand for them has disap- 
peared and nowadays one rarely hears their 
names mentioned in the trade. 

Gentlemen's roadsters have the type of the 
trotter — breedy, long-necked, elegant horses 
suiting the light buggy or speed wagon and able 
to go along at a smart rate of speed. In fact 
the ranks of the road horse are properly re- 
cruited from among the harness race horses, 
both trotters and pacers, and to sell well a road 
horse nowadays must be able to beat 2 :30, prob- 
ably quite a good bit. Then these which cannot 
trot or pace fast tail on down in all grades to the 
cheapest sorts which are taken for the livery 
and southern trade. Of late, however, the South 
has been buying a better grade of driver, taking 
business and pleasure horses at $160 to $185, 
whereas the demand from south of Mason & 
Dixon's line was formerly for cheap lots at $65 
to $115. 

Heavy harness horses are divided into two 
sorts — the park horse and the carriage horse, 
the runabout horse being a sort of hanger-on to 
the skirts of both. The park horse runs in 
height from 14.3 hands to 15.2% hands, and the 
carriage horse from 15.3 hands upwards. At 
least that is the distinction drawn for these 



116 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

sorts at the great horse shows. The park horse 
and the carriage horse have the same conforma- 
tion, but the park horse must have as an ab- 
solute essential high, snapjjy action. The step of 
the carriage horse should be more commanding, 
as befits his greater size and the heavier vehicle 
which he pulls. Conformation of these two 
sorts is of the round-built order, round quar- 
ters, round barrel, fairly short legs, neat, long, 
well arched neck, clean cut at the throttle, neat 
head, sloping shoulders and clean bone, the 
more the better. 

Typically the correct action of the park horse 
in front may be described as that the foot should 
be raised and lowered as though, so to speak, 
following the rim of a rolling wheel, being 
brought forward and upward, reaching the 
ground again in a graceful curve. Many horses 
can jerk their knees up high and then slam their 
feet down again on the ground not far from 
the spot where they picked up, but that is not 
good action, no matter how high the knee inaj 
be hoisted. Similarly some horses can get their 
knees away up when going at a three-minute 
clip and not until then. That will not do, for 
the street traffic regulations do not permit the 
exhibition of so much speed. The heavy har- 
ness horse must go high when going slow. The 
hocks should be kept well together, flexed 
sharply, brought well upward and the foot 
thrown forward well under the body. The ac- 



M.IKKET CLASSES OF HOKSES. 117 

tion of the larger horse dwells somewhat, per- 
missibly, and is therefore more deliberate, but 
it must be high all around. 

Runabout horses are used singly, A runa- 
bout pair is very much of a farce. This is a 
nondescript article in horseflesh, of varying size 
but never large, ranging perhaps up to 15.3 
hands and from that down to 14.3, with a bit of 
speed, a bit of action, more or less of the confor- 
mation of the park horse, but not his action. 
In short, the runabout horse is about half way 
between the roadster and the heavy harness 
horse and generally he is docked, though not 
always. 

As the class of farm workers includes every- 
thing that is not of sufficient size or merit to 
go into the higher-priced lots, so the business 
and pleasure class may be said to be a very 
elastic one. A horse may be mighty useful and 
yet not class as a roadster, park, carriage or 
runabout horse. The more inferior lots of the 
trotter type fill the livery stables and the more 
chubby ones go into buggy work in the cities, 
the South taking many of each kind. A hearse 
horse is a light expresser which happens to be 
black in color and may weigh as much as 1,300 
pounds. I want to say again that it is useless 
to attempt to explain by rule of thumb the divid- 
ing lines between the various market classes, 
more especially nowadays when the demand for 
horses exceeds the supply and buyers are will- 



118 THE HORSE BOOK. 

ing to put up with makeshifts if they can not 
find just what they want. 

Cobs properly speaking do not stand over 14.2 
or 14.3 hands at most, though horses standing 
15.1 hands — sometimes even more — are often 
miscalled cobs in the trade. Cobs are the con- 
necting link between the ponies and the horses. 
They are large-bodied, pudgy, chunky beasts, 
not horse, not pony, but half way between, short 
of leg and j)roperly with high action. Ponies 
run in all sizes from 14.2 hands down, the va- 
rious common sorts being described in the sub- 
sequent chapter devoted to them. 

Saddle horses include, as the market classifies 
them, the five-gaited or Kentucky horse, the 
three-gaited or walk-trot-and-canter horse and 
the hunter. Special reference to them will be 
found further along. 

By continuous effort the Stock Yards Com- 
pany has made Chicago the greatest point of 
concentration and distribution of horses in the 
West. Therefore Chicago substantially domi- 
nates values of horses for most of the country. 
Its market gets the best horses in the region 
tributary to it and all the largest and best buy- 
ers in the eastern and southern cities are contin- 
ually represented at the ringside in the Dexter 
Park Pavilion, commonly known as the ''bull- 
pen." A sharp man is he who can hold his own 
in any horse market and to get to understand all 
of the trade terms is no mean trick of itself. 



MARKET CLASSES OF HOESES. 119 

Here some of the Cliicago trade tenns are ex- 
plained. Tlie shibboleth of the professional 
hoirse dealer, however, varies. 

Horses are mostly sold at auction in the great 
markets of the West. In Chicago and generally 
elsewhere they are sold under certain stated 
conditions, which are well understood. If a 
horse is sold ''to be serviceably sound" he must 
have nothing wrong about him that will mate- 
rially impair his value as a worker at his busi- 
ness. In other words, he must be practically 
sound in wind, limb and eye and body, have no 
bad habits, must pull true and be well broken. 
A horse that does not fill this bill or any other 
form of guarantee may be rejected and thrown 
back on the hands of the seller at any time be- 
fore noon of the day following that on which 
the purchase was made. A horse may also be 
sold "to be serviceably sound" with some defect 
pointed out, which goes with him. It is only 
once in a whole that horses are sold as ' ' sound, ' ' 
and then only to "start something." "Legs 
go" means that whatever is on his legs goes 
with the horse, but he must be right in his wind, 
pull true and he must not be lame. "To wind 
and work" predicates that the horse is sound 
in his wind and will work all right. "Worker 
only" means that the horse will pull true and 
nothing more. "At the end of the halter" indi- 
cates that the purchaser has bought a horse, 
when his bid is the last one accepted by the 



120 THE HOESE BOOK. 

auctioneer. There are quite constant modifica- 
tions of these conditions by the pointing out of 
imperfections. 

The most astounding practice about the horse 
business in a professional way is the *'bush." 
If a definition of this term should be inserted in 
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary it would 
probably read about like this: "To bush.— To 
force or cajole the seller of a horse to refund to 
the purchaser a portion of the price bid in the 
auction ring." There are various reasons for 
this "bushing," A buyer may find something 
on the horse which he did not see in the ring. 
Then he may insist on a reduction of the price 
and the vendor will consent to be "bushed" 
rather than run the risk of a rejection. Some- 
times the seller will submit to the process on 
the statement of the buyer that he has bought 
the horse too dear. "Bushing" is necessarily 
a sort of a private transaction and it would 
therefore be useless to go into further detail. 
Many a horse has, however, gone through the 
ring with the "bush" arranged beforehand, 
which is another way of saying that the horse 
was bought before he was auctioned off. 

In the vernacular of the bull-pen there are 
many terms and expressions which may be ex- 
plained. The most incomprehensible I ever 
heard was "bush and a gristle," which indi- 
cated that the horse had an incipient sidebone 
and was sold subject to a reduction of the price 



MAEKET CLASSES OF HORSES. 121 

bid. "A liair or two off above the hoof" means 
that the horse has a wire-cut, which may be as 
big as the palm of your hand, but having been 
pointed out, goes with him. "A little bit of a 
speck in one eye" guarantees one good eye — no 
more, no less. "A little bluish in one eye" 
means the same thing, and so do "a little 
smoke ' ' and ' ' a little feather. " " Which eye ! ' ' 
queries some one in the crowd. "Don't know," 
replies the seller, and thereupon no guarantee 
goes with either eye. "A little rough behind" 
indicates that the horse has a spavin or thor- 
oughpin or some other unsoundness about his 
hocks, and it all goes with him. ''Makes just a 
little noise" is one way of saying that a horse 
is off in his wind or "windy." "Jacks" are 
bone spavins. "Michigan pads" are long- 
shaped puffs on the outside of the hocks below 
where the thoroughpin shows. "A little round- 
ing on one hock" implies that the horse has a 
curb and if some one believes that there is some- 
thing wrong with a horse which cannot be read- 
ily discovered he alleges that "there is a hole in 
him somewhere." "A little careless of one 
knee" tells that the horse is knee-sprung, "a 
little rough on the coronet'' that he has a side- 
bone or ringbone. "Stands a little careless" 
indicates tiiat the horse points a fore foot. 

A brand new one in the trade just now is "he 
smokes his pipe," which indicates that a horse's 
lip has been torn at some time and so hangs 



122 THE HORSE BOOK. 

down. If a horse has a sloping rump he is 
''goosey." He is "chancy" if he gives prom- 
ise of developing into something high-class, but 
has been purchased for a moderate or low price. 
When a horse throws his fore feet outward at 
the finish of the forward step he is said to 
"wing," "dish" or "jjaddle," according to the 
choice of terms. They all mean the same thing. 
If he toes-out in front he is "nigger-heeled"; if 
he toes-in he is "pigeon-toed." If he stands 
with the points of his hooks together and his 
hind toes out, he is "cow-hocked." If the for- 
mation of the foreleg is the reverse of what it 
is in a knee-sprung horse, he is "calf -kneed" 
or "stands back at his knees," as opposed to 
"over at his knees." A horse that toes-out in 
front will almost invariably "box" or "Imock" 
or hit his knees or "brush" his ankles. If he 
strikes his hind ankles he "interferes" ; striking 
higher up behind is called "speedy-cutting," 
but it is done by striking the opposing fore foot. 
If he strikes the shoe of a front foot with the 
toe of the hind he "forges" or "over-reaches." 
If he is off in his wind he is "windy," or 
"roars" or "whistles." A "bull" is a horse 
that grunts when a pass is made at him. Inci- 
dentally it may be remarked that about 10 per 
cent of all the horses which reach the Chicago 
market are windy. If he is afflicted with chorea 
he is "stringy" or "crampy" or a "shiverer," 
though he may be "stringy" on account of some 



MAKKET CLASSES OF HOESES. 123 

injury and not have chorea. Obviously if he has 
heaves he is "lieavey. " If he keeps on swing- 
ing from side to side in the stall like an ele- 
phant he is a '^ weaver." If a horse has been 
knocked about a bit in shipping he will likely 
show a ''car-bruise," but it must be soft and 
mellow and show. to be of recent origin. If a 
horse has never even seen a harness he is "a lit- 
tle green." It is positively marvelous how 
diminutive all equine ailments are around the 
mart. Finally when the horse has passed 
through the plug, pelter and crowbait stages he 
becomes "a poor old skin," and when he either 
can not go any more or dies he is carted off to 
•the ''refinery" and is there converted into a 
large variety of articles of commerce ranging 
from salt beef (for export) and cordova leather 
to buttons and glue. 

There are also many other terms of much 
more general significance and acceptation used 
by horsemen the world over. For instance, a 
"half-bred" is a horse begotten by a Thorough- 
bred stallion and may have on his dam's side 
none of that blood at all or very much of it, but 
so long as he is not eligible to registration as 
Thoroughbred he is "half-bred." A grade is 
begotten by a pure-bred horse from a mare of 
unknown breeding, but this does not apply to 
the get of the Thoroughbred or standard-bred. 
A cross-bred is by a pure-bred horse of one 
breed from a pure-bred mare of another breed. 



124 THE HOESE BOOK. 

The get of a Thoroughbred stallion from a cold- 
blooded mare is, as stated, a half-bred. The 
get of a standard-bred stallion from a similar 
mare is non-standard or trotting-bred or pac- 
ing-bred, as the case may be. "Cold blood" is 
that which has not been vivified by an infusion 
of the race horse or his derivatives and "warm 
blood" is that which has. The part of the horse 
in front of the saddle is called his ' ' forehand. ' ' 
The bone and muscle of his tail form his 
' ' dock, ' ' and when a part of that structure is cut 
off he is "docked." Where his dock joins his 
body is his "croup" or "tailhead." His but- 
tocks are his quarters— never his hips. Be- 
tween his quarters and hocks are his "second 
thighs" or "gaskins." His shanks are his 
"canons" or his "shins." His nose and mouth 
are his "muzzle." Finally his left side is his 
near side and his right side his off side. A 
horseman never speaks of the right or left side 
of a horse. 

Demand for draft geldings of great weight is 
a development of modern commercial condi- 
tions. The congestion of the streets of the great 
cities and the increase in the bulk and weight 
of the goods to be hauled preclude speed in 
transit in urban thoroughfares. Therefore came 
the call for horses of sufficient weight and 
strength to move very heavy loads. So great a 
factor has the big draft horse become in Ameri- 
can commerce during the last ten years that if 



MAKKET CLASSES OF HORSES. 125 

he should be suddenly extinguished the rail- 
roads would be, temporarily at least, forced out 
of business for lack of power to transport 
freight from warehouse or factory to the cars. 
Of still later years the desire of the great mer- 
cantile firms to advertise their business by 
putting good teams of drafters on the streets to 
make a fine show as well as to haul their heavy 
loads, and their rivalry to win in the show ring 
ever since the International Live Stock Exposi- 
tion was established in Chicago in 1900, has 
created an insistent and never satisfied demand 
for these big horses and forced prices skyward 
to heights little dreamed of in the trade. Con- 
sistently year after year the heavy drafter holds 
his pride of place as the horse commanding the 
most ready sale at prices relatively higher than 
are brought by any other sort. A farmer can 
make a larger profit on his draft horses than on 
any other kind he can breed. 

Weights most favored by purchasers range 
from 1,800 lb. upward, the limit, so far as I 
know being, for the International show at least, 
2,385 lb., which was the weight of Armour's 
Big Jim in November, 1906. I have heard of 
stallions alleged to weigh from 2,400 to 2,500 
pounds, and I believe there are a few such in 
the country, but Big Jim is the largest horse 
I have ever seen on the scale. Weights of 
drafters are usually considered to begin at 
1,600 pounds, and the greater the weight with 



126 THE HOESE BOOK. 

quality and shapeliness the higher the price. 
It has been stated that better geldings have 
been shown at the International than there ever 
were stallions. As to this I need not express 
an opinion, but the fact remains that some mar- 
velous specimens have been exhibited and the 
keen rivalry of the great packing firms to obtain 
the very best always insures a top-notch price 
for a tojD-notch animal. Add to this that a 
score or more of the largest eastern firms are 
always actively in the market for this best class 
and it is easily seen what an alluring prospect 
is spread out before the farmer-breeder by this 
sort of trade. To get the big money, however, 
it is necessary always to offer something the 
buyers want. The farmer who deliberately 
caters to the needs of the poor teamster who 
ekes out a more or less scanty living by the 
labor of his equine slaves need never expect to 
get the prices which are secured by the breeder 
who caters to the wants of firms worth millions. 
Remember this: No matter how high a breeder 
aims he will always get some misfits. If he 
aims to breed the very best drafters he will get 
always a certain proportion of chunks, wagon 
horses and nondescrijots. If he sets out to 
breed any lower grade, he will get enough poor 
ones to put a serious crimp in his receipts. 

During the dull times which prevailed be- 
tween 1892 and 1900 most farmers sold otf 
their best mares and went out of the business 



MABKET CLASSES OF HORSES. 127 

of breeding horses. Thousands of these mares 
were exported and many more thousands were 
put to work in the cities. In this way when 
times began to get better and the demand for 
horses to revive most farmers found themselves, 
a decade ago, without big mares from which to 
breed. Therefore when we started in again to 
raise drafters we had a mighty poor foundation 
on which to build. Build, however, in some 
shape we had to, and the man who had stuck 
to his draft-bred stock found his wealth greatly 
increased. As it was only in 1899 and 1900 that 
breeding was seriously entered upon again the 
supply of big drafters must of necessity be and 
remain short for many years to come. There 
is no more profitable line of live stock raising 
in which the farmer may engage. That we have 
done as well as we have is very greatly to our 
credit, but there is yet room for great improve- 
ment. 

From all of the old world breeds of draft 
horses now known here the high-priced ones 
may be bred. The point is, paying due atten- 
tion to quality which has heretofore been dis- 
cussed, to breed the largest stallions to the 
largest mares and then feed the resulting foals 
from birth to selling age. Weight without 
quality will always sell, but weight with quality 
is the combination that brings the big money. 
The conformation desired has already been 
described in Chapter II. Generally speaking 



128 THE HORSE BOOK. 

stallions weighing 2,000 pounds or more should 
be used and the mares as large as they can be 
got. It is a great temptation to sell off good 
young mares when, for instance, a mortgage 
payment is coming due and a shipper offers a 
long price, but it will pay best in the long run 
to save religiously the best young mares, and 
use them for breeding stock. 

Crossing over from the French breeds to the 
British and from the British to the French or 
Belgian will produce commercial drafters that 
will sell to splendid advantage, but it is always 
best to stick to the one chosen breed, piling 
cross upon cross and so continually approaching 
a fixed ideal. The influence of proper environ- 
ment has already been so fully dealt with that 
it is only needful now to say that the drafter 
is a product of highly artificial conditions and 
must be highly fed or he will not grow large 
enough. 

Drafters which bring the highest prices are 
always offered for sale about as fat as they can 
be made. The buyers who bid the longest prices 
for drafters invariably want them fat and are 
willing to pay well for the adipose tissue. Con- 
sequently the farmer who lets his grain lie in 
his bins and offers his horses thin in flesh is 
merely throwing money away. An instance is 
in point. Matt Biers, the well known Illinois 
shipper, recently paid a farmer $265 for a thin 
four-year-old gelding, which sold at auction in 



MAHKET CLASSES OP HORSES. 129 

Chicago for $290. It was current comment at 
the time that if the gelding had been fat he 
would have sold for $400 or more. Had the 
farmer put the extra flesh on the horse he would 
have been paid probably $350, the shipper 
would have made a larger profit and the buyer 
would have been better pleased. According to 
these figures 40 or 50 bushels of grain fed to 
this horse would have paid a dollar a bushel 
and a net profit of $50 besides to the breeder. 
The men who make a business of ''feeding out" 
drafters know the value of fat. If these profes- 
sionals can afford to i:>ay from $200 to $250 or 
even more for thin horses, ship them home, 
fatten them, ship them back to market, pay com- 
missions and make a profit in the end, surely 
the farmer can do much better when he can 
save all the expenses incident to such transac- 
tions. Therefore the farmer will make money 
by seeing to it that his horses are fat when he 
offers them for sale and this is true not alone 
of drafters but of all other horses as well. 

Finally in order that farmers may get a cor- 
rect idea of the drafters that bring the big 
money and of the kind they should strive to 
produce there is no method of education so good 
as attendance at the International Live Stock 
Exposition and other shows at which drafters 
are exhibited in numbers, and thorough investi- 
gation of the everyday demands of the market 
at any one of the wholesale centers — preferably 



130 THE HORSE BOOK. 

Chicago. By following closely the awards of 
the judges and by asking questions of represen- 
tative horsemen when he is puzzled, a farmer 
can acquire valuable information he will never 
obtain at home. Be not afraid to approach the 
judge after his work is done. Judges nowadays 
are generally perfectly willing to impart on re- 
quest such knowledge as they possess. Get out 
and see for yourself. Eub shoulders with the 
world. Money spent on making trips to great 
shows and markets need not be charged up to 
expenses, but with all legitimacy to capital ac- 
count and the investment will produce a thou- 
sand fold greater interest than the money would 
earn if never spent at all. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
FITTING FOR SHOW AND SHOWING. 

From time immemorial trial in the arena has 
been the main bulwark of the breeder's busi- 
ness. The modern show ring is the legitimate 
successor of the Roman stadium. It was an 
easy transition from the trial of speed to the 
trial of individuality and this historic connec- 
tion is portrayed today in the names amphi- 
theater and coliseum which we bestow on the 
buildings in which our horse shows are held. 
At its inception in those far off days the arena 
was a field of war ; the modern show ring is no 
kindergarten. It is the same invincible spirit 
which made Rome mistress of the world and 
which has builded all the great empires the 
world has ever known that has given men honor 
in the show ring. Modern show yard ethics de- 
mand that the exhibitor be a sportsman; the 
show ring is no place for the pusillanimous or 
cowardly. 

Active competition in the arena must be 
engaged in by the breeder before he can learn 
to gauge properly the merits and demerits of 
his stock. Young animals may look at home to 
be worldbeaters and yet not come one-two-six 
when the judge hands out the ribbons. It is 

131 



132 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

only by submitting them to the show ring test 
that the breeder may discover how they rank 
with the products of other establishments. 
"Who's afraid!" should be his motto. He 
should court the trial of the show ring and cut 
and come again until he lands on top. There 
may be breeders who have ridden to fame along 
a road that did not lead across the tan-bark, 
but if there are history does not record their 
names. Gen. Sherman's epigrammatic defini- 
tion of war has been accepted by the world at 
large as correct. The show ring is the seat 
of war, mimic it is true, but war nevertheless, 
and the showman's campaign must be no less 
carefully planned and vigorously prosecuted 
than the famous march to the sea. 

In North America the practice of exhibitors 
differs materially from that of the old world. 
Commercialism dominates all modern American 
life; the business element is always easy of 
discovery. The United States and Canada are 
the only countries in the world in which many 
of the leading prizes are won by horses im- 
ported from beyond the seas and shown by 
exhibitors whose chief object in trying to win 
honors is to make money. This is not true, of 
course, of a few of the rich men who show 
horses as a pastime, but these few often work 
the hardest to win and it is on the basis an- 
nounced that show yard methods, ethics, pro- 
cedure and preparation must be discussed. It 



FITTING FOR SHOW. 133 

is this commercial element which has made 
rivalry in the American arena the most bitter 
in the world and supplies the reason why it is 
so essential that preparation be complete before 
sending horses onto the tanbark. 

In the old countries show ring competition is 
more or less of a lovefeast compared to the bat- 
tles fought on American soil. Annually the 
United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Ger- 
many are ransacked by the importers for the 
best horses that money will buy and to win with 
these horses is a matter of dollars and cents, 
not of sentiment. That our breeders have done 
as well as they have in the face of this free- 
for-all competition speaks volumes for their 
progressive enterprize in the face of discourage- 
ment. We are a free-for-all nation, however, 
and the breeder must win against such competi- 
tion if he is to gain the top rungs of the ladder. 
It has been done and it can be done again. 
There are anomalies in national as well as per- 
sonal affairs and the position of the American 
breeder is a notable one. If he wins he wins 
against long odds and when he wins his triumph 
is all the more glorious. True parallels can not 
be drawn between the show yards of Europe 
and America. 

Friendship ceases when the horses enter the 
arena. It is then the business of the exhibitor 
to win and even a small point overlooked may 



134 THE HORSE BOOK. 

mean defeat. Thin horses can not win. Poorly 
shown horses meet defeat. Fierce rivalry com- 
mands that the judges consider naught but that 
which is presented before them. Therefore the 
first essential is to put the show horses onto 
the tanbark as fit as hands can make them and 
to that condition an overload of flesh is the 
prime essential. Flesh covers a multitude of 
faults. It would serve no good purpose to dis- 
cuss the question of so overloading show 
horses ; the fact remains that it must be done. 

Nor must the exhibitor think that all he has 
to do is to put his horses into the ring good and 
fit and the ribbons will come of themselves. 
Ethically they should; actually they will not. 
Of late years there has been a marked advance 
in the personnel and work of the judges, but 
there are practical politics in the show ring 
just as there are in everyday life. It is a highly 
specialized type of politics at that and as in 
all political strife no one can afford to overlook 
even a single trivial point. An exhibitor to get 
quite all that is coming to him must not only 
get up into the ''push" but he must be of the 
' ' push. ' ' He can only get there by showing his 
stuff with just that extra touch of finish that 
compels recognition and the while remaining 
content to persevere in his novitiate as a good 
sportsman should. There is nothing Utopian 
or altruistic about the American show ring. A 
novice at the game must fight for what he gets 



FITTING FOR SHOW. 135 

and, remembering what Sherman said about 
war, fight accordingly. If he does not watch 
out he will find the cards stacked against him 
and dealt to him from the top, middle and bot- 
tom of the deck. At that, more than half the 
cry of fraud and favoritism in the show ring 
which has gone up from disappointed exhibitors 
has lacked justification in fact. The really neat 
jobs have slid through so beautifully that they 
have hardly ever been even suspected, certainly 
not detected until long after they were put 
through. All of which nails down the unalter- 
able fact that the exhibitor must watch out or 
the goblins will get him. 

Fitting horses for show is an easy enough 
process, albeit one that is fraught with much 
likelihood of trouble if it is not properly done. 
The hard part of it all is to pick out the winner 
in the rough. The better the judge the more 
surely will he select a thin colt to make a winner 
when fitted, but the best will go wrong half the 
time or more. A breeder who lets his young 
stock get down poor has all these chances to 
take. He would better keep them in condition 
and so know more about them. There is no 
reason why a breeder should not show his horses 
from foalhood to maturity. The cumulative in- 
fluence of such success is priceless. Foals and 
yearlings should be the main reliance of the 
breeder in the show ring, rather than his 
matured stallions. Therefore we begin with the 



136 THE HORSE BOOK. 

foals. A group of them, uniform in character 
and brought out as they should be, forms the 
very best advertisement for any breeder and 
next comes a good bunch of yearlings. In 
these classes he does not meet the competition 
of the importers. He practically has the field 
to himself. He is overlooking a sure thing if 
he does not avail himself of the opportunity. 

As there is no age limit in the classes for foals 
youngsters intended for exhibition should come 
early and be submitted to the forcing process 
from the time they are born. Foals are more 
easily fitted than any older horses. They should 
have all they will eat of oatmeal and bran and 
after they are ten weeks old or thereabouts some 
oilmeal. It is impossible to give any direct in- 
structions as to quantity. The feeder must ar- 
range about. that according to the condition of 
the foals. The mares should be fed a large 
ration of grain and have good grass. It never 
pays to stint the mares that are suckling foals 
intended for exhibition. A ration consisting of 
ground oats one i:)art, ground corn one part and 
bran two parts by weight, and a double handful 
of oilmeal fed dry will prove the best. They 
should have as much of his as they will eat up 
clean twice a day ; it promotes the flow of milk 
and the foals prosper accordingly. This is high 
feeding of course, but it must be done in order 
to get the foals where they should be. With 
this sort of milk from their dams and what 



FITTING FOR SHOW. 137 

^rain the foals will eat tiiere uead be no worry 
^jbout their growth, but if it is intended to send 
them into the ring in the very highest possible 
condition cow's milk may also be fed to them. 
Nothing puts flesh so nicely on a young animal 
as milk. The charge that cow's milk makes 
foals have soft joints is apparently made good 
at times, but then it is the abuse of the milk 
not its use that is to blame — the milk of itself 
never yet did any harm; it is the mountain of 
flesh that can be built up by the use of the milk 
that influences the joints and makes them soft. 
I believe that just as hard joints can be built 
up on milk as on anything else. In fact it can 
be proved that this is true, but it is for the 
feeder to determine how much must be given 
and to see that it is not abused. Moreover there 
are always chances to take in fitting any kind 
of horses for show. I have known colts that 
were allowed to bury their noses in warm new 
milk and drink all they wanted three times a 
day and come out all right every way and I 
have known others that threatened to go wrong 
on a ration limited to two quarts twice a day. 
Begin any time it is desired to feed the milk 
after the colt has got so it is able to take all 
the milk his dam gives. Go easy at the start. 
Feed three times a da}^ and never give the 
youngster all he will drink. Perhaps two quarts 
three times a day warm from the cow will be 
about right, though it may be too much. It will 



138 THE HORSE BOOK. 

always be enough. If the feeder does not under- 
stand his business thoroughly or if the inexperi- 
enced man is not willing to take a chance while 
learning the feeding of cow's milk to foals the 
process would better be eliminated altogether. 

According to modern show ring ideals foals of 
the draft breeds look better docked. They must 
also be taught to lead nicely and stand them- 
selves up properly in the show ring. An un- 
mannerly foal is at a grave disadvantage. Edu- 
cate them to walk and trot freely to halter and 
to stand still when wanted. To this end wean 
the foals early. Then they will not worry for 
their mothers, but the worst thing possible — I 
have seen it done — is to begin the weaning 
process just before leaving for the shows, either 
taking the dam along and leaving the foal or 
vice versa. . That will never do, no matter how 
well done to the foal has been nor yet how old 
he is. The mare will go wrong somehow and 
the foal will never look as he should either at 
home or at the show. Trim the feet of the foals 
so as to keep them level. Get them to look as 
nearly like little horses as possible — the more 
so the better. If they are to be shown with their 
sire at their head, trim the lot just alike. 

Coach-bred foals should not be fed milk — it 
will make them too gross — unless one happens 
to be very backward and then he may be made 
to catch up to the others by the added food. 
With this single exception their treatment 



FITTING FOR SHOW. 139 

should be the same as that for any other foal 
intended for exhibition. Thorough education is 
even more essential in the case of coach and 
Hackney foals than with the drafters, but only 
insofar as with the mature animals of these 
sorts. 

Foals fed for showing as described will only 
need a let up in dropping off the milk 
when the show season has drawn to its close, 
which under the present system is in December 
and therefore in cold weather. After they are 
safely home the milk may be tapered off and 
stopiDed altogether and the straight grain ration 
persevered with, raw or cooked roots being 
added. Carrots, sugar beets or rutabagas 
should be fed in quantity preferably raw. The 
grain ration should be oats and bran. It is im- 
possible to say definitely how much the colts 
should have. They should be given a big yard 
to exercise in and they should have as much 
oats and bran as they will eat up clean and come 
hungry to the next meal. This with the roots 
and what bright hay they will j^ick over will 
keep them growing nicely and as they should 
grow. Formerly I believed that it was neces- 
sary to feed weanlings soft food all winter. I 
am now convinced — and the bulletins of the ex- 
periment stations will bear me out — that more 
may be done in promoting growth of the right 
sort by feeding grain dry and by giving roots 
for succulence. Digestive troubles, moreover, 



140 THE HORSE BOOK. 

are less likely to arise to be overcome in colts 
that are dry-fed and it Has been most conclu- 
sively proved that cooking adds nothing to the 
nutritive quality of the grain. 

Carried along in this way weanlings will come 
to the rise of grass as yearlings about as 
growthy as they can be made, fat and hearty. 
It is always better to separate the colts from the 
fillies during the winter. They should be ac- 
customed to the green herbage gradually and 
then they should have the run of pasture, the 
grain feeding being continued. They should 
have shedding to run into at will and as they 
grow older they will, of course, require more 
grain. In the heat of summer the youngsters 
should be taken up during the day and turned 
out at night and they should have steady educa- 
tion in moving according to show yard methods. 
The fillies will do well in almost any sort of a 
field. The colts, being of a more excitable 
nature, will be better in small lots of two or 
three acres and not more than two colts to- 
gether. 

As the time of showing approaches again, 
perhaps about a month before the first show is 
to be made, take them off the pasture altogether 
so they will stand shipping. Early roots are 
most welcome at this time. If the youngsters 
are brought up in this way they will be as fit 
as they should be by the time the car is in the 
siding and the order to march is given. After 



FITTING FOE SHOW. 141 

the yearling shows have been made the process 
of wintering is much the same as before. The 
youngsters need about all the grain they will 
eat under any circumstances and the feeder can 
alone determine what their rations should be. 

Two-year-old colts brought to their second 
season this way should have box stalls and pad- 
docks attached, each colt a stall and a paddock 
to himself. I have seen valuable colts run in 
bunches as two-year-olds, but it is a poor prac- 
tice. They wrestle and fight and the liability 
to accident and consequent blemish is great. Of 
course if it is desired to run the colts along 
on little or no grain perhaps they will get along 
nicely enough together in large lots, but I do 
not think that is the way to rear pure-bred colts. 
Keep the j^oungsters schooled in the ways of the 
arena. 

This is as good a place to say it as any other : 
It is impossible to explain didactically the art 
of feeding young horses for show purposes. It 
is an art and one that may be learned only by 
experience. It would be foolish to try to set 
down any positive rules for the feeding of 
young horses intended for the show ring. They 
will stand a lot of feeding and they must have 
it, but as every horse is different in some par- 
ticular from the next one only a very general 
foundation can be laid down. On this the feeder 
must build for himself, but he must build with 



142 THE HORSE BOOK. 

the ^knowledge that he can kill one with that 
which will not be half enough for the next. 

With the colts thirty months old or there- 
abouts and the show season over they will be 
practically mature. They will grow some more, 
to be sure, but it will be little in comparison to 
what they have done in the days through which 
we have followed them. Exercising now be- 
comes a most important factor, though many 
people think a colt coming three years old will 
do very well if given a yard in which to run 
during cold weather. A show colt, and it does 
not matter how good he is, should now be broken 
and made to work as I have already described. 
Then comes his season as a three-year-old and 
more work. If the colt is moderately worked 
and in full round flesh at July 1, say 60 days 
before the shows open, these 60 days will be 
ample to put on the extra flesh he must have to 
win. It is unnecessary to have him right on 
razor edge when you first take him away from 
home. The same amount of grain and less work 
will put on all the needed flesh and his legs will 
stay right, while he will feel so much better 
than an idle colt that there will be no compari- 
son between them in the ring. Never forget 
the lessons that make for handlines in the show 
ring at the halter. During the month that 
comes just before he goes away from home let 
him have these lessons daily. If he is suddenly, 



FITTING FOR SHOW. 143 

for any cause, forced into absolute idleness, cut 
off the grain altogether. 

There is no reason why stallions should not 
be given their exercise in the harness and yet be 
sent into the ring ready to the minute. The crack 
geldings of Armour, Morris, Swift or Pabst got 
their work in the leather — not much it is true, 
but enough to make and keep them handy — and 
I have never seen stallions shown in better fet- 
tle. We need more strength and virility in our 
stallions, I know that the advocacy of such 
methods of fitting for show will sound strange 
tO' many of the old school in which I was brought 
up, but I can not close my eyes to the accom- 
plished facts presented to my view. When I 
have seen the Armour and other geldings sweep- 
ing around the arena at all gaits from the state- 
ly walk to the keen run for an hour at a time — a 
feat that none of the stallions shown could ac- 
complish—and each individual gelding in as 
high flesh as any of the entires fitted without 
work, I have learned that the best way to pre- 
pare horses for the arena is not in idleness 
but in the harness. I know that it would be 
practically impossible for the importers to fit 
all their stallions as suggested, but that does 
not lessen the force of my contention that it 
would be vastly better for the horses themselves 
and for the men who buy them if they would. 
I do not wish to be understood as saying that 
the great geldings are made ready for showing 



144 THE HOESE BOOK. 

on full work, nor yet that all stallions could 
so be made ready, but some of them can be 
made ready on work enough to make it pay to 
work them and others on tasks so little lessened 
that the difference would be negligible. In 
any case it is so much easier for a man to sit 
upon a box and drive that the horses would 
always get work enough to preserve that health- 
ful vigor which is so essential to the propaga- 
tion of the race in its best estate. 

However it often happens that a thin horse 
is to be put in condition for the show ring and 
the owner will not consider putting him to work. 
The period of time which must intervene be- 
tween the day on which he is taken up and the 
day on which he will have to be sent into the 
ring will have of course a material bearing on 
the manner of feeding, and there is something 
also in the number of chances an owner is will- 
ing to take. Likewise there is much in the in- 
dividual. I have known horses take a whole 
year to get ready and then lose their show con- 
dition in a week. There are some hard wooden 
beasts that will never feed into show shape. On 
the other hand there are some horses that it is 
hard to keep out of show shape — ^^in idleness. 
It is, however, safe to say that on any reason- 
ably big-framed horse from two years old up- 
ward 500 pounds may be put on in six months 
if he is so thin to start with that his ribs may be 
distinguished. When a horse is idle he may be 



FITTING FOR SHOW. 145 

fed a great variety of food and suffer no ill con- 
sequences and the variation of the grain will 
coax him to eat with greater relish. I do not 
advocate this kind of feeding. I will describe 
the methods in vogue some years ago by a firm 
whose fame is worldwide, whose prize-winning 
record placed it clearly in the forefront among 
its contemporaries and whose losses by death 
from colic and kindred troubles were enormous. 
In the morning about five the horses were 
given crushed oats and bran, fed dampened 
with cut hay— enough to fill a common stable 
bucket. At ten in the forenoon they got whole 
oats, bran and cut hay. At two in the afternoon 
they got the same feed as in the early morning 
and around six in the evening they got boiled 
barley, crushed oats, ground corn, oilmeal and 
cut hay, and usually some roots boiled with the 
barley. The feeder was a man of great experi- 
ence and highly competent in every way. I 
should judge that the horse got from 16 to 20 
pounds of grain and bran each day and only 
very moderate exercise. Often as the time of 
showing approached this feeding was supple- 
mented by the traditional drink at nine o'clock 
at night. This consisted of the jelly made 
from perhaps a pint of oilmeal, a couple of 
pounds of oatmeal, half a pound of molasses 
and water or milk to make something more than 
half a bucketful. With all this the individual 
caretakers would oftentimes feed extra grain 

10 



146 THE HORSE BOOK. 

between meals. This is high feeding properly 
so called. Any one who wishes to take his 
chances of colic, founder, inflammation of the 
bowels and the like with it may do so. The 
stomach and intestines of horses so fed are so 
soft that you can stick your fingers through 
them anywhere and not half try. Any one who 
wants to build a horse up for show in this way 
may do it. 

The prudent showman maps out his plan of 
campaign, studies out his best routes, hires his 
car for the show season and ships out in time 
so that he will arrive at his destination a couple 
of days before the show opens. It is best to 
rent a palace car for a stated number of weeks 
or months. If it is not desired to go to this 
expense — though it always pays — then a box car 
(or more) must be fitted with stalls made of 
strong lumber, just as they might be built in a 
barn. Three horses may often be put in one 
end of the car, but if mature stallions are being 
taken along two will be enough, which means 
that one partition must be built, and it is hardly 
needful to say that it should be built so that 
nothing short of an ax will knock it down. 
Horses will only ride well in a box' car either 
head to or tail to the motion. Arrangements 
having been made with the railway officials for 
the use of the same car during the entire season 
the lumber used may be knocked away and 
saved when the return journey is made and the 



FITTING FOR SHOW. 147 

horses are once more safely on the home land- 
ing platform. 

In getting to and from landing chutes and 
unloading platforms at fair grounds the shipper 
will acquire a varied assortment of experience. 
Horses do not need much feed in transit — only 
about enough to keep them quiet. A barrel 
should be taken along for water and filled peri- 
odically in transit. It pays to get horses off the 
car as soon as possible after they stop rolling. 
When standing still they soon begin to fret. 
At junction, division and terminal points the 
yardmasters will be found to be human and 
therefore appreciative of common decency and 
civility and occasionally, in my experience, 
amenable to other influences. It pays to be a 
good fellow in the show business. 

Make entries in proper season and give full 
details. Never let the suspicion that you have 
a "ringer" with you get abroad. Ask as 
few favors of the show management as pos- 
sible and as a general thing put up with 
inconvenience to the point of imposition rather 
than raise a row. It pays. It pays also to do 
whatever the management asks in the way of 
getting horses into the ring, parading and so 
forth. Give the people a show whenever you 
can. As the advertising is all that any exhibitor 
gets directly for his labor, his stalls should be 
tastefully decorated, the placards showing forth 
in large plain letters whose horses are being 



148 THE HORSE BOOK. 

shown, and civil replies should be returned to 
all visitors. There is another thing that pays: 
have a pleasant word for everyone. No one 
ever can tell by the looks of a man whether he 
is a prospective purchaser or not. I have seen 
thousand-dollar bills fished out of vests that 
were not worth three dimes. 

True sportsmanship demands that the exhibi- 
tor take victory or defeat philosophically. The 
man who is blatant in success and lugubrious in 
defeat bumps against trouble sooner or later. 
An exhibitor should act like a man, not like a 
spoiled child who does not want to play in any 
one else's yard unless the game goes his way. 
The show yard is no child's playground. There 
is only one way to learn its ropes, which is to 
get into the game and play it for all it is worth. 
Just how to play it each must learn for himself. 
No amount ot precept will serve to portray its 
inner workings. But it may be said in conclu- 
sion that a man must have the goods to win and 
he must play his cards aright. He may have 
the goods and he may not get all that is coming 
to him. However when he has the goods and 
stays awake he will generally find out where to 
go and what to do. 



PART 11. 

THE BREEDS. 

''What is a breed?" Many different replies 
are made to this question. We talk glibly about 
this breed and that breed; of breed character 
and breed type, but when it comes to putting an 
accepted but not conceived definition into cold 
type it is altogether a diif erent matter. Darwin 
and other distinguished men of science have 
told us from time to time what a breed is as op- 
posed to a species or variety or sub-variety, but 
I question very much if any definition yet given 
quite fills the bill. Webster gives among others 
these definitions of the word: "A race or 
progeny from the same parents or stock; as, a 
new breed of sheep." "A cast, a race or kind 
of men or other animals which have an alliance 
by nativity or some distinctive qualities in com- 
mon," and the phrase used as illustration is 
' ' Greyhounds of the best breed. ' ' The first may 
be let go for what it is worth. The second falls 
far short in that the animals in a breed need 
not necessarily have a common parent or even 
a common line of descent and the mere posses- 
sion of "some distinctive qualities in common" 
will not by any means make a breed. 

So far as our modern breeds are concerned 
they are all composite in origin and there der- 

149 



150 THE HOESE BOOK. 

ivation may therefore be passed up without 
farther consideration. In any case it is implied 
in the following which is presented as the cor- 
rect definition of the term under consideration : 

A breed is a group of animals possessing 
homologus character by inheritance so firmly 
fixed as to be transmitted with reasonable cer- 
tainty under suitable environment. 

Place fifty well bred Jersey cows in a row, 
fifty West Highland bulls, fifty Clydesdale 
horses and fifty Angus bulls. Now screen from 
view all of the Jersey cows and the Highland 
bulls but their heads; all of the Clydesdale 
horses but their legs from the knees and hocks 
downward, and all of the Angus bulls but the 
hind quarters, and a correct idea of homologous 
character may be obtained. It is the sum of 
these homologues in each instance that goes to 
make up what we briefly refer to nowadays as 
breed type or character. In just so far as this 
test is met by the entire membership of a breed 
it may be counted on to reproduce with reason- 
able certainty the homologous character which 
it possesses. Vice versa in just so far as a breed 
will not meet this test it will fail. In following 
out this thought we may readily learn how in- 
definite have been the aims of many breeders — 
even to the inevitable conclusion that in some 
of our most celebrated breeds, taken in a mass, 
real homologous character is not present. 

It must be understood that reference is made 



THE BREEDS. 151 

to the breed as a whole first of all, then to such 
selected representatives as we call show stock. 
When the latter do not present an adequate 
amount of homologous character, so much the 
worse. A breed must be judged in its entirety, 
not by a few fine specimens which may rise in 
sparkling fashion over the dead mediocrity of 
the gTeat mass. The touch of the masterhand 
is in evidence always, but it not infrequently 
happens that the best horse in a iring does not 
really typify the breed to which he is alleged to 
belong. 

At the risk of being called tedious I desire to 
emphasize the fact that it is the smn of the 
homologous characters which constitutes breed 
type and the animal which embodies in itself the 
most of these characters in their highest estate 
is the animal which must be adjudged the best 
according to the standard of the breed involved. 
It is along these broad lines that the various 
breeds are described in future chapters. 

Stud book iregistration and maintenance of 
breed j)urity must always go hand in hand. 
Errors of omission and commission will creep 
into stud books and in itself registration is 
worth little unless it certifies to a line of descent 
from ancestors of high class, but it may be 
accepted without question that in this modern 
age it would be impossible to maintain the 
purity of any breed without a well managed 
stud book. Popularly too much weight is ac- 



152 THE HORSE BOOK. 

corded to the numbers following the name of a 
horse. The word ' ' registered ' ' is one to conjure 
with and it has been made a scapegoat to bear 
away into the wilderness of credulity a vast load 
of inferiority. 

Too many are willing to believe that because 
a horse is registered in some stud book he must 
be a good one. This easy credulity has led to 
the establishment of bogus books of record in 
which registration implies absolutely nothing, 
but that the certificate has been granted and the 
recording fee paid. Ignorance of the real value 
of record and of the names of the stud books in 
which registration really means something has 
caused many a man to j3ay his money for a 
grade in the belief that he was buying a pure- 
bred. In the appendix to this volume will be 
found a list of all the stud books recognized by 
the United States Department of Agriculture at 
the date of publication. It will be seen that the 
list is a long one and it has grown to its present 
proportions practically within the past thirty 
years. 

In this connection it is but just that fitting 
recognition be extended to the late J. H. San- 
ders, founder of The Breeder ^s Gazette, for 
the splendid part he played in promoting the 
establishment of many of the stud books now 
so widely known. I am within the mark in 
stating that we have never had a man so widely 
versed in horse lore as he was in his time. I 



THE BKEEDS. 153 

am also within the mark in stating that he was 
actively connected with the foundation of almost 
every stud book of standing in which the far- 
mers of America are interested today. By his 
unfailing perception and his indomitable energy 
he brought order out of chaos in a time when 
there were no trails blazed for him to follow. 
He was a practical breeder and a thorough- 
going encyclopedia in matters pertaining to the 
horse. Not only did he render an incalculably 
great service in advocating and aiding the es- 
tablishment of the stud books in which the far- 
mers are most generally interested, but when 
Kentucky revolted against the close rule of the 
arbitrary Wallace, Mr. Sanders was selected to 
compile the new stud book, which he did in a 
manner reflecting his most intimate knowledge 
of the American harness race horse and its 
origin. 

I desire also to pay my personal tribute to his 
memory. No man in agricultural America has 
left behind him so great a monument. Go 
wherever a furrow is turned in American soil 
and there the fruit of his works is made mani- 
fest. Egypt's pyramids will in time turn to 
dust, but the monument James Harvey Sanders 
builded will gather bulk and strength and 
beauty as time rolls on. In the gleam of the 
golden grain in bin and crib ; in the show yard 
and in the stock yard are blazoned the praises 
which are his by right. Progressive always, ag- 



154 THE HOESE BOOK. 

gressive when occasion required, a master of 
detail as well as a man of affairs, the world is 
vastly better for the touch of his vanished hand. 

THE DEAFT BREEDS. 
History contains no record of any large breed 
of horses having been developed on high 
ground. Omitting detail it was not until the 
horse in his westward migration reached the 
low-lying marshy lands of northern Europe 
that he began to gather the bulk and strength 
which have made for the present-day drafter. 
It is also immaterial where the first real 
drafters were developed. That development 
was probably simultaneous athwart a consider- 
able stretch of country. Still we may accept 
that part of Belgium apd Holland erstwhile de- 
nominated Flanders as the fountainhead from 
which flowed the stream which has given us the 
true draft horse. From the parent stock there 
obtained the various heavy breeds as we know 
them today have been evolved according to the 
desires of the various peoples which have de- 
veloped them. As there was no native American 
heavy horse he had to be imported and as the 
importing business has grown and ramified we 
may divide the draft breeds into three groups 
— the French, the British and the Belgian. 

THE FEENCH GEOUP. 

In France the government recognizes two 
pure draft breeds — the Percheron and the Bou- 




o 


— 


u 


^ 


•< 




H 




in 


m 






Ul 


a 


tn 0^ 


Ed 


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THE FKENCH GROUP. 155 

lonnais. Other breeds recognized at tlie shows 
but not claimed to be pure are the Nivernais, 
the Bretonnais and the Ardennais, and there 
are also prizes offered for a nondescript lot 
called Mulassiere, which means "mule-bear- 
ing," and the design is to encourage the produc- 
tion of loosely built mares well suited to mate 
with the asses of Poitou. The Mulassiere, how- 
ever, may be dismissed from consideration. 

On their first introduction to the United 
States the draft horses of France were all in- 
cluded within the common title of "Norman." 
There was none but the Norman horse imported 
from France, but some twenty years later a dis- 
position to call them Percherons appeared on 
the part of those who believed the horses of La 
Perche were the most representative and most 
clearly entitled to be called the typical Gallic 
drafter. A bitter struggle was precipitated be- 
tween those who favored the retention of the 
general title Norman and those who insisted 
upon specialization under the title Percheron. 
A compromise was effected and the first volume 
of the Percheron-Norman Stud Book was pub- 
lished, the elder Sanders being the editor. 

Peace, however, did not reign long. The 
Percheron contingent appeared to be gaining 
the upper hand and the supporters of the Nor- 
man nomenclature broke away, formed an asso- 
ciation for themselves and began the publication 
of the National Register of Norman Horses. It 



156 THE HORSE BOOK. 

should be clearly understood that in calling 
their horses Normans these importers and 
breeders did not desire to imply that the ani- 
mals all came from Normandy, but rather that 
Norman was a generic title which included all 
the draft breeds of France, and as these breeds 
were about one and the same thing they were 
all equally entitled to registration. On the 
other hand, the Percheron contingent, insisting 
that the Percheron was the typical drafter of 
France, dropped the Norman from the name of 
the breed and continued the publication of the 
Percheron Stud Book. The present National 
Register of French Draft Horses is the lineal 
successor of the National Register of Norman 
Horses and the Percheron Stud Book of 
America has come to the association presently 
controlling it from the beginning made under 
the late J. H. Sanders, as already detailed. 

In the French Draft book are registered all 
imported stallions and mares which are record- 
ed in the General Draft Horse Stud Book of 
France. In the Percheron Stud Book only 
pure-bred Perclierons may be registered. This 
is to say that Perclierons may be registered as 
French Drafters if the owner so desires, while 
horses of the Percheron breed only may be 
recorded as Perclierons. In this way the effort 
at specialization initiated along back in the mid- 
dle seventies has been achieved. As bearing 
somewhat on this matter of registration of all 



THE FRENCH GROUP. 157 

French draft horses in the National Register, 
it may again be pointed out that the Percheron 
and the Boulonnais are the only draft breeds 
recognized by the French Government as pure. 
The Ardennais are being improved mostly by 
the use of heavy Belgian stallions and are re- 
corded in the Belgian Draft Stud Book. The 
Nivernais are being improved by the use of 
Percheron stallions and the Bretonnais are a 
mixture of everything under the sun. It is per- 
fectly true that it is impossible invariably to 
pick out pure-bred Percherons from horses of 
mixed French Draft breeding, but on the other 
hand it is not infrequently possible to do so. I 
desire no controversy in this matter. These are 
the facts. It only remains to say that whatever 
the merits of the dispute originally were a colt 
or filly will sell for more money if it is eligible 
to record in the Percheron books than if it is 
only eligible to record in the French Draft 
book. 

Much misapprehension exists in this country, 
and indubitably much misrepresentation has 
been resorted to, in connection with the brands 
often found under the names of horses imported 
from France. Under the French law stallions 
are '* approved," which carries with it a sub- 
sidy of money from the government; ''author- 
ized" which carries no subsidy, and "certified." 
There are only two maladies for possession of 
which approval, authorization or certification is 



158 THE HORSE BOOK. 

refused in France — periodic ophthalmia, or 
moonblindness, and thick wind. The French 
names for these unsoundnesses are "fluxion 
periodique" and "cornage." 

Stallions are not permitted to serve mares 
owned by others than their proprietors unless 
they have been examined and certified as free 
from these troubles by a board of veterinarians 
appointed by the government. Any one who 
stands for public service a stallion that has not 
been approved, authorized or certified is liable 
to fine, and the owners of mares using such a 
horse may also be prosecuted and punished. 
There is nothing in the law to prevent a breeder 
using any sort of an unsound stallion to his own 
mares. When a stallion has been examined 
and pronounced free from the unsoundnesses 
named he is branded on the neck under the 
mane with a five-pointed star. When certifica- 
tion is withheld on account of the horse failing 
to pass the veterinary ordeal he is branded 
under the mane with the letter R, which stands 
for the French word ''refuse" — refused. The 
five-pointed star and the letter R are the only 
brands placed on horses by the French govern- 
ment. In France draft colts cannot stand for 
public service until they are over thirty months 
of age. 

Certification of freedom from moonblind- 
ness and thick wind is granted for one year 
only. Each stallion designed for public service 





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^^^ 

^^^ z^^,^ 






M^^fli^'"' ' 




'^Sjflj^^S 








^^^H 


fel^' 




^p*^ ,' ,^^^^H 


WS^.. 




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 





THE FRENCH GROUP. 159 

must be submitted for examination annually, 
and in the event that a horse should fail to pass, 
after having in previous seasons gone through 
all right, the letter E is branded over the five- 
pointed star. 

Horses and mares registered by the French 
Percheron Society (Societe Hippique Perche- 
ronne) are branded on the neck beneath the 
mane with a brand which looks "something like 
the American dollar mark. This brand is a 
combination of the letters S and P — standing 
for Societe Percheronne. These three brands — 
the five-pointed star, the letter R and the com- 
bination of the letters SP are the only official 
marks placed on horses originating in France. 

Exception may be made to this in the case of 
the Nivernais stallions, which have their stud 
book numbers branded on their necks, but this 
would seem to be a different matter altogether 
in that a collection of numerals cannot be read- 
ily mistaken for a single simple mark. 

There is, however, nothing in the French law 
to prevent any breeder or importer branding 
his horses how and where he pleases. I am not 
aware that any French breeder does so brand 
his horses, but I understand that at least one 
prominent American importer marks his pur- 
chases with the hot iron. There need, however, 
be no mistake made, if it be kept in mind that 
the brands of the government are but two in 
number, indicating acceptance or rejection — the 
five-pointed star and the letter R. 



160 THE HORSE BOOK. 

THE PERCHERON. 

Undoubtedly the Perclieron breed flows from 
the same general fountain head in Flanders as 
the rest of the draft breeds. The currently ac- 
cepted belief is that on the defeat of the Sara- 
cenic host by Charles Martel in 732 the eastern 
stallions of the invading host were crossed with 
the larger horses of the low countries and the 
formation of the Perclieron laid in that manner. 
Continued infusions of Arabian and Andalusian 
blood seem to have been poured into the strain, 
authentic information to this effect being avail- 
able. It is not strange then that 75 or 80 years 
ago we find that the Percheron was a diligence 
or bus horse, weighing from 1,200 to 1,400 lbs., 
according to the official statement. The increase 
in size during the past three-quarters of a cen- 
tury to the present scale is traceable, as in all 
other breeds, to the demands of modern civiliza- 
tion and in part also to the insistent demand of 
American importers for ton horses. 

It is probably beyond question that French 
horses of draft blood were imported into Can- 
ada about the beginning of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, probably earlier, but the first authentic 
history we have of an imported horse making a 
great mark in the stud is of the McNitt horse or 
European, landed at Montreal about the year 
1816. There is some dispute about the weight 
of this stallion. He was a gray and as he was 
a fast trotter, and begot Alexander's Norman, 



THE PERCHEKON. 161 

which founded an unimportant strain of trot- 
ters, it is unlikely that he was at all large. It is 
history also that Alexander's Norman was 
never intended to be used as a getter of trotters. 
He was more or less of the draft type, as draft 
type went in these far back days, and it cannot 
be said that his blood has been of material 
benefit to the trotter as a breed. 

Percherons were imported into New Jersey in 
1839 and later, but it was with the importation 
in 1851 of Louis Napoleon into Union County, 
Ohio, by Charles Fullington and Erastus Mar- 
tin that the importation and breeding of Perche- 
ron horses into this country really had its incep- 
tion as a business. This celebrated stallion, 
Louis Napoleon, weighed about 1,600 lbs. at his 
best, and after his purchase by the Dillons and 
removal to McLean county, Illinois, began the 
movement which has placed the Prairie State 
in the very front rank among the common- 
wealths in which draft horses are produced. 
From the time of Louis Napoleon the develop- 
ment of the Percheron breeding industry has 
been easy and rapid. Matters of recent occur- 
rence need not be detailed here. 

From the very first the Percheron has been 
the favorite drafter of the American people. 
There are probably three times as many Perche- 
rons in the country today as there are of any 
other one draft breed. The technical charges 
which have been made against the Percheron 
11 



162 THE HORSE BOOK. 

are chiefly that his bone is light, his pasterns 
short and his rump sloping. The popular verdict 
is that whatever the size of his bone or the 
length or angle of his pasterns, his grades last 
longer on the streets of the cities than those of 
any other breed. Right or wrong, the American 
people have declared in favor of the draft horse 
which can get up and go, and gauging the matter 
from the demands of the market, the Percheron 
best fills this and all other bills. Another point 
in their favor is the gray color. While all colors 
are to be found in the breed, grays were for 
half a century or more the most popular. Then 
came a craze for blacks; but there never was 
any good reason for this, seeing that black is the 
least popular color in the market-place. The 
breed in this country has, however, staid quite 
largely gray— fortunately — and the gray stal- 
lion is now coming back into his own. Dealers 
tell me that they will pay as high sometimes as 
$20 in the hundred for gray geldings more than 
they will pay for other colors, which supplies a 
cogent reason why farmers should strive to 
breed grays. Though a little more than half a 
century ago the Percheron was not a large horse 
there has never been any trouble about the size 
of his get. Today they are as large as any that 
reach the sales ring, and they always have been. 
The Percheron has been greatly aided no 
doubt in its upward course by numbering among 
its supporters many of the monumental charac- 



THE PERCHERON. 163 

ters in the American horse business. At that 
sufficient time has elapsed since the importing 
business began for the breed to find its proper 
level. That it enjoys its present popularity 
must be attributed solely to its suitability to the 
needs and desires of the American people. 

Typically the Percheron is a horse of some 
range, not squatty or chunky. He has a top line 
which differs from that of most other breeds in 
that correctly it is somewhat higher just back of 
the coupling and between the points of the hip- 
bones. This, of course, accentuates any low- 
ness of the back or droop of the quarters that 
may be present. He has good width, his ribs 
well sprung out from the back bone and rounded 
like a barrel, but his quarters should not be 
bagged out like the hams of a Poland-'China 
hog. Instead they should have a flowing round- 
ed contour indicative of promptitude of move- 
ment as well as strength. The neck should be 
well arched, not coarse, and well set up, topped 
off with a head that appears rather small for the 
size of the horse. Short stubby necks and heavy 
sour heads are not typical of the breed. The 
bone often appears light, judged by the stand- 
ard of some other breeds, but it is of the stuff 
that wears, as has been proved on the streets. 
The pasterns are not long. Coupled with this 
sort of conformation there is in the typical 
Percheron a breezy gaity of motion and an air 
of elegance characteristic of no other breed. 



164 THE HORSE BOOK. 

THE OTHER FRENCH BREEDS. 

Recognized by the French government as a 
pure breed the Boulonnais has its home in the 
neighborhood of the town of Boulogne, which is 
situated on the northern coast of France and 
just across the English channel from Britain. 
While partaking quite largely of the type of 
French draft horse exemplified by the Perche- 
ron, it is undoubted, from the evidence of our 
eyes, either that some English blood has been 
injected into the race or that the conditions on 
the two sides of the narrow channel of salt water 
have tended toward the production of similar 
characteristics in the French and British stocks. 
White markings and colors in which the foxy red 
is more or less prominent are much more com- 
mon among the Boulonnais than among the 
Percherons. Iron grays and roans are common, 
bays, browns and chestnuts, also, together with 
white stockings behind and white blazes. The 
Boulonnais probably averages larger than the 
Percheron, shows a great amount of bone but 
possesses less breed character or type. 

Nivernais horses are pre-eminently like the 
Percheron, which is not to be wondered at, see- 
ing that the race is being improved by the use of 
Percheron stallions. The color is black and all 
black. In a catalogue of the Great Central Show 
of Paris now at my hand, black Nivernais horses 
and mares alone are listed. A rather short back 
rib, light flank, and a tendency to undue length 



THE OTHER FRENCH BREEDS. 165 

of back are alleged to be undesirable character- 
istics of this strain so far as it has been devel- 
oped, but I am free to say that the few speci- 
mens I have seen in this country could not be 
faulted greatly, if at all, in this way. 

In Brittany betterment of the horse stock was 
long delayed and the French government has 
done its utmost to promote improvement in con- 
formation and value by acquiescing in the use 
of almost any kind of a pure-bred draft stallion. 
The show catalogue referred to discloses that 
the Bretonnais horses are mixtures of Perche- 
ron, Boulonnais and other sorts with the native 
Breton stock in all sorts of combinations, and 
the variegated color scheme of the breed indi- 
cates that no attempt has been made at uniform- 
ity in this direction. 

Ardennais horses are not heavy except in so 
far as they have been made so of later years 
by the use of Belgian draft stallions. Properly 
speaking the Ardennais is a horse of the heavy 
artillery type and was pointedly eulogized by 
Napoleon for the endurance displayed in his dis- 
astrous Russian campaign. Of later years, how- 
ever, much size has been injected into the breed 
and many Ardennais horses have come to this 
country as Belgians. The Ardennes country, in 
which they are bred, is a hilly, poor region, in 
which size can only be maintained by the closest 
artificial selection and high feeding. It bor- 
ders both France and Belgium and the Grand- 



166 THE HORSE BOOK. 

duchy of Luxembourg, and its horses are typ- 
ically harder in their legs than the true Belgians 
bred on lower ground. They run more to white 
markings than the true Belgians, and more to 
' ' hard colors ' ' — bright bays and chestnuts. An 
Ardennais horse may perhaps best be described 
as a Belgian draft horse with a bit of Clydes- 
dale quality of legs and levelness of top injected 
into him. They are recorded in the Belgian 
Draft Horse Stud Book, and come to this coun- 
try with certificates therefrom. 

THE BELGIAN. 

Bred nearest the f ountainhead of all our draft 
breeds and amid surroundings which favor 
grossness in horseflesh, the Belgian is indubit- 
ably the largest heavy draft horse of the present 
day. The Belgian government has spent a lot of 
money trying by inspection and subsidy, largely 
after the French pattern, to improve the breed 
and it has succeeded in large measure. I remem- 
ber Belgian work horses that were imported in- 
to Scotland to do contracting work some thirty 
years ago or more, and a worse lot could hardly 
be imagined. They had the crookedest toplines 
of any horses I have ever seen, short necks, big 
sour heads and sickle hocks. These, however, 
could not fairly be esteemed high-class speci- 
mens, for the reason that with freight charges 
by sea and land they could be laid down in the 
Scottish capital and other cities for less money 



THE BELGIAN. 167 

than Englisli or Scotch cart horses of equal 
size and strength would cost. However, it is 
well known that until the government seriously 
took up the business of ameliorating the breed, 
the faults named were very general among the 
draft horses of Belgium. 

Comparing the stallions and mares of the 
breed to be seen in America today with those 
horses of my earlier recollections, a great work 
of improvement has been done, but there is still 
a marked lack of levelness of conformation in 
the breed as a whole, though the type is plainly 
enough fixed. The short neck and the heavy 
head are all too often in evidence, but are yield- 
ing to the efforts of the breeders to correct these 
faults. Increasing straightness of topline is 
visible, but the drooping rump is still a breed 
characteristic. Of very short legs, with plenty 
of bone and with a body of enormous width 
and most excellent action at the trot, the Belgian 
has proved very valuable in this country to mate 
with loosely coupled, gangling mares and has 
probably done better with that sort than any 
other breed. 

Eeared on low land, eminently suitable for the 
production of gross horses, the Belgian has lit- 
tle to do from foalhood upward but to eat and 
grow. He is for the most part reared on soft 
feed and green grass and in the constant com- 
panionship of man, so that he is the most docile 
horse on earth in addition to being the largest. 



168 THE HORSE BOOK. 

It is undoubted that in this country he is the 
most easily kept stallion, makes the least fuss 
and gives the least trouble. He has not, how- 
ever, had due credit for all he has done. Bred 
for the most part to mares of Percheron blood 
the best of his grades have gone into the auction 
ring as Percherons or '^ Normans," and it is 
only occasionally that full credit is given. This 
may or may not have been unfortunate of course, 
but geldings of undoubted Belgian type are now 
to be seen on the city streets and once in a while 
in the show ring. This shows that while the 
Belgian, the importation of which in anything 
like large numbers is of comparatively recent 
beginning, has made a place for himself in our 
equine economy. Furthermore the instances of 
big geldings by Belgian stallions having brought 
very long prices are so frequent now as to prove 
conclusively that when properly mated the use 
of the Belgian is very confidently to be recom- 
mended. They ship better across the ocean than 
any other breed and acclimate more readily. 

Belgian horses come in almost all colors, but 
the most general are chestnut and roan. Bays 
and browns are also common and black and 
gray are occasionally met with in the breed. 
The red-roan and the chestnut are apparently 
the hues most favored by the Belgian breeders. 

Of late years prices of pedigreed Belgian stal- 
lions and mares have advanced sharply. There 
is a great demand for breeding horses in Bel- 



THE BELGIAN. 169 

gium not only from American buyers but from 
the Germans as well and the latter seem to be 
willing to spend more money for what they 
want than our importing trade will stand. Ow- 
ing to the efforts being made by the government 
to encourage the improvement of the breed, the 
keeping of a popular stallion is a most profita- 
ble business and therefore there is comparative- 
ly little incentive to sell for export. Not only 
this, but when a stallion obtains government ap- 
proval and subsidy he has to do a season of so 
many mares before his owner can lay hands on 
the money. This insures the retention of a good 
stallion in the country for at least one season. 
Moreover the subsidies are liberal and there- 
fore prices are high. 

Tmi^ortation of Belgian mares has not been 
extensive owing to the high prices prevailing 
for them. They are mostly in the hands of 
farmers who own but a few at the most, and the 
prices obtainable for their colts suggest to their 
owners that it is unwise to part with them 
unless handsome prices are forthcoming for 
them. The breed is not numerically large, 
and the high values have prevented our import- 
ers bringing over as many mares as the trade 
here would have absorbed if they could have 
been obtained on a lower level. However, quite 
an improvement is visible of late in this regard 
this season, and the breeding of Belgians in the 
United States is therefore likely to be placed on 



170 THE HORSE BOOK. 

a broader basis. The few importers who 
brought over mares in an earlier day have suc- 
ceeded in breeding some very creditable ani- 
mals. 

THE BRITISH GROUP. 

Characteristic of two of the three British 
draft breeds is the long hair or feather on the 
legs. This, it may be said, is common in greater 
or less degree to all horses reared in low-lying 
lands for generations and once fixed as a char- 
acteristic persists tenaciously despite trans- 
plantation to higher ground and crossing with 
smooth-legged stock. Regarding the general 
appearance and size of the English horses in 
Saxon times authorities seem to differ, but 
there is little doubt that some improvement 
took place after the Norman conquest in 1066. 
It is highly probable that the horses of the fen 
country in England — Lincoln and Cambridge — 
partook quite largely of the general type of the 
horses developed in northern continental 
Europe and history teaches us that in the reign 
of King John or about the beginning of the 
thirteenth century and thereafter recourse was 
freely had to Flanders for stallions to mate 
with the British mares. An evidence of this is 
provided in the fact that at one time the pre- 
vailing color of the heaviest horses in England 
was black. 

It is altogether probable, however, that the 



THE BKITISH GROUP. 171 

British people liave played more or less of a 
lone hand in the evolving of their draft breeds 
— as they have in the other branches of live 
stock husbandry. So wherever they reached out 
for materials in the early day, whether to Flan- 
ders only or to other places as well, the English- 
men and Scotchmen may fairly be said to have 
made their breeds what they wanted them to be 
without very much outside assistance one way or 
another. If a proof of this is required further 
it may be suggested that while almost all of 
the other breeds claiming descent from the 
black horse of Flanders are of black, gray or 
mixed colors, without white marks, as a general 
rule, these same colors are now and have for 
long been at a discount both in frequency and 
favor in John Bull's island. Still the fact re- 
mains that many Flanders stallions were used 
in Britain and not ranch more than a century 
and a half ago at that. All colors are found in 
both the Shire and the Clydesdale, but the bays, 
browns and blacks predominate. Tlie Suffolks 
are a race of chestnuts only. 

Endless controversy has raged regarding the 
origin of the white markings on the Clydes- 
dale and Shire. That they are deeply ingrained 
in these breeds must be conceded and that the 
British breeders seem to favor them admits of 
no doubt. This is decidedly unfortunate so far 
as the American trade is concerned, and not 
only the North American but the South Amer- 



172 THE HORSE BOOK. 

ican trade as well. It would serve no good pur- 
pose to enter into the merits of this controversy. 
The fact remains that the white seems to be on 
the increase and so far as this country is con- 
cerned this is all the more to be regretted. If 
the breeders of Britain desire to cater to the 
trade of the people of the United States they 
should breed more whole-colored horses. There 
is no doubt of this. We do not like them all 
splashed up with white, head, legs and belly. 

Starting obviously from approximately the 
same foundation the breeders of the Shire and 
Clydesdale, despite cross infusions back and 
forth at times, which in contiguous countries 
can not be avoided, have succeeded in evolving 
two types which differ quite noticeably in the 
main one from the other. It is not always pos- 
sible to pick out Shires from Clydesdales or 
vice versa, but taking the breeds as a whole 
they are quite distinct. The only good reason 
which can be assigned for this is the individual 
preference of the breeders or, if you please, the 
fashion. It can not be the environment, because 
you can find in Scotland Clydesdales that look 
like Shires and in England Shires that look like 
Clydesdales, but neither is in favor in his native 
land. 

One thing, however, the breeders in both 
kingdoms have done — they have developed the 
walk to a marvelous extent and a straightness 
and trueness of action at the trot which is not 



THE CLYDESDALE. 173 

surpassed, if it is equalled, in any other breed. 
The long, clean, swinging stride of the British 
drafter, trudging along with a great load be- 
hind him, is the perfection of locomotion under 
such circumstances. How the breeds differ we 
shall see in the following pages. 

Unlike the nations of continental Europe, 
Great Britain extends no governmental aid of 
any kind to her breeders of draft horses. She 
pays no subsidies and she makes no inspections. 
Every breeder does as he pleases irrespective 
of his neighbor. Thus the three British draft 
breeds are the result solely of personal en- 
deavor, undirected by any superior power. The 
uniformity of type which we see in each of them 
is little short of marvelous and, I venture to 
say, an achievement possible only in the Tight 
Little Isle. 

THE CLYDESDALE. 

It would obviously be beyond the mark to 
claim that in an island so small as that which 
contains England and Scotland there has not 
always been a more or less free interchange of 
equine stock. Somewhat mythical accounts have 
come down about various attempts having been 
made about the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
tury to improve the native Scotch heavy horses 
in a sort of wholesale manner, but there is no 
very accurate description of that breed to be 
obtained. "We may therefore safely conclude 



174 THE HOBSE BOOK. 

that it did not differ materially from that of 
England. A starting point is, however, fur- 
nished us. In 1750 John Patterson of Loch- 
lyoch imported from England into Scotland a 
black Flemish stallion. To this horse may be 
traced in lineal ascent, through the celebrated 
sire Glancer, alias Thompson's Black Horse, 
most of the best Clydesdales now living. Earely 
does it happen that only one breeder makes a 
move of this kind, and though we have no such 
positive evidence as in the case of the Lochlyoch 
Flemis<h stallion, we may fairly assume that 
others were brought into Scotland about the 
same time. So to the black Flemish blood in- 
troduced about 160 years ago into North 
Britain we may trace the real improvement of 
the Clydesdale. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century 
many of the breed were grays. The famous 
Broomfield Champion was out of a gray mare. 
In spite of its prevalence the gray color was 
distasteful to the Scotch, and before the cen- 
tury had reached one-third of its growth, steps 
were taken to promote the production of the 
*'hard" colors. In this endeavor the Highland 
& Agricultural Society along in 1829 offered 
prizes for dark bay 'and brown horses, barring 
the grays from competition. The gray color 
has persisted in small degree, however, though 
it is no better liked today in Caledonia than it 
was then. 



THE CLYDESDALE. 175 

It was in 1856 that the first Clydesdale stal- 
lion was imported into the United States and 
that one came from Canada. We have no evi- 
dence of any direct importation by ship pre- 
vious to that date. Since that time the breed 
has numbered among its supporters some of 
the most intelligent men ever connected with 
the horse business in any capacity, but a num- 
ber of these supports have been lost through 
death or retirement in recent years. Along in 
the late eighties, at the Columbian and even 
still later the showing of the Scottish draft 
horse was second to none. Success crowned 
the efforts of the breeders to produce the type 
desired by the Scotchmen and they even beat 
the Scotch at their own game. Col. Eobert Hol- 
loway, Alexis, 111., bred several that were ex- 
ported to Scotland and won name and fame in 
that country. It is also freely conceded that 
'the American breeders of Clydesdales have 
succeeded in producing a greater number of 
champions and prize-winning j^oung things in 
the free-for-all competitions at our great shows 
than have the breeders of any other sort. So 
much so was this at one time that classes had 
to be made for imported mares alone, for the 
reason that they had no chance to defeat the 
home-bred fem^ales. American breeders still 
send into our leading show-yards beautiful ar- 
rays of young things, true to type and excel- 
lently furnished, but in the market-place the 



176 THE HOESE BOOK. 

Clydesdale gelding holds his own only when 
classable at the very toi3. There must be a 
reason for this peculiar status. 

Primarily the American and Scotch trades 
demand horses of different stamps. For a gen- 
eration the chief effort of the Scotch breeder 
appears to have been to improve the length and 
angle of the pastern and the quality of the 
bone and hair. To obtain these points they 
have admittedly sacrificed somewhat the size 
and weight and ruggedness of their horses. 
Knowing the preference of the American trade 
for solid colors they seem to have courted, 
rather than avoided, continued encroachments 
of white upon the body color. In short they 
seem to have had eyes for little but "feet, pas- 
tern and feather." That they have succeeded 
in obtaining what they wanted in well-nigh per- 
fect measure can not be denied, but in gaining 
this they have partially lost the American trade 
and inferentially much for the American trader. 

We can but note this fact with real regret, 
because the ideal Clydesdale gelding in point 
of action and conformation is truly a model 
and a pattern for the world. The levelness of 
toi3, rotundity of barrel, clean bone, well set 
pastern, prompt, swinging walk with the iron 
showing at every step, and the sharp trot, with 
the hocks well flexed and carried close together 
straight beneath the body, form the combina- 
tion for which the judge is looking and to which 
he works. 



THE CLYDESDALE. 177 

In the Dominion of Canada, separated from 
the United States only by water or an intangi- 
ble boundary line, which is far from straight, 
the Clydesdale is the pre-eminent drafter. For 
more than half a century he has thriven and 
multiplied and made money for his users. After 
trial of that length of time he still repels in- 
vasions of the other breeds, as he has repelled 
them since his advent into the country of the 
beaver. Magnificent pairs of home-bred Clydes- 
dale geldings may be seen in Toronto, Ottawa, 
Montreal and elsewhere, pairs that are to all 
intents and purposes pure-bred and which have 
left a profit from the first hands to the last. 
Dotted over the Dominion are the Clydesdale 
studs all the way from Edmonton to Quebec, 
and there are no shrewder, more representa- 
tive or broader-minded men than their own- 
ers. But the Canadians are a nation of stock- 
men to the manner born and this may have 
something to do with it. Besides the Cana- 
dians are much more in sympathy with old 
country ideas and methods than we are, which 
after all is only natural. 

British breeders, however, owe the interest 
in the United States some measure of co-opera- 
tion at least. If they would face about and give 
us the big brawny ciean-Iegged sort that could 
be named as heroes of a former day when the 
Clydesdale wap in his glory here, we would 

gladly pay the price and the benefit to the breed 
12' 



178 THE CLYDESDALE. 

liere would quickly become apparent. It never 
was a numerous breed, and perforce of circum- 
stances never can become in Scotland much 
more numerous than it is just now, but there is 
limitless room for its expansion on this side 
of the Atlantic. It will not expand greatly, 
however, until the Scottish breeders add more 
top, more neck, more ruggedness generally and 
eliminate the white. It would serve a good end 
if the Highland & Agricultural Society would, 
in this day of grace, do with the splashed-up 
kind as it did in 1829 with the grays and bar 
them altogether. 

The supporters of every continental breed of 
drafter now common in this country have re- 
ceived the most hearty co-operation from the 
old-world breeders and their success has been 
commensurate therewith. What they desired 
they received. Instead of extending co-opera- 
tion the Scottish breeders have gone their own 
road, concerning themselves with their own pe- 
culiar ideas. This policy of splendid isolation 
may be a great thing for Britain as a whole, but 
it has dealt a grievous blow to the Clydesdale 
interest in this country. 

THE SHIRE. 

It has already been shown that the Shire 
traces back to the fountainhead of the black 
horse of Flanders, but whether in the main he 
owes his bulk to that strain of blood is quite 



THE SHIRE. 179 

another question. Certain it is that none of the 
other breeds of live stock developed in England 
owes its scale to any extraneous blood. It 
would be strange indeed if the Shire alone of 
all the British breeds should owe his size to an 
alien cross. In 'the rich fen lands of Lincoln 
and Cambridge as great bulk may be produced 
as on any other spot in the world. There is no 
way of proving it, of course, but reasoning by 
analogy it is altogether probable that a breed 
of drafters would have been developed on these 
fen lands quite as large as the present Shire if 
there never had been a Flemish horse at all. 
Be this as it may, the Shire is just what the 
Englishman wants him to be. He is markedly 
different, as already pointed out, from any of 
the other offshoots of the parent stock. 

From the American angle it is hard to say 
why the English breeders have developed the 
type just as they have. They have certainly 
not developed it in accordance with American 
preferences. Characteristic of the present-day 
Shire are great bulk, strong bone, a tremendous 
amount of hair about the legs, far too much 
white and in many instances a paucity of neck 
that to an American eye approaches deformity. 
A tendency to heaviness in the head is also no- 
ticeable, but whether this is actually due to lack 
of proportion, or whether it merely seems to be 
on account of our liking for a well risen crest, 
it is hard to say. Nor does it matter. The 



180 THE HOESE BOOK. 

Englishman seems to care little for a fine crest. 
The difficulty, however, which most Shires ex- 
i>erience in getting into their collars would indi- 
cate that the heaviness of the head is a condi- 
tion and not a mere appearance. 

From the American angle, again it passes be- 
lief why any one should prefer a horse whose 
four legs are burdened with great mops of hair 
and discard those of equal bone and less 
feather. Again why so many of the winners 
should have such splotches of white upon them 
is something which the American mind can not 
discern. White markings not only persist, but 
tend to spread from generation to generation 
and they are spreading. It does not seem to 
make much difference in England whether 
America wants a whole-colored horse or not. 
No spirit of co-operation in this regard has 
been manifested and the Shire interest in this 
country shows the effects of it. 

It was not always so. There was a time when 
the Shire was a popular horse in this country. 
He is so still, but he does not cover 'the ground 
he once did. There is little doubt that English 
Draft horses, as they were called in those days, 
were imported into the eastern United States 
a very long time ago. Tradition tells of a 
strain of horses called the John Bulls in Penn- 
sylvania which were indubitably descended 
from imported English stock and some of these 
found their way as far west as Illinois during 





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THE SHIRE. 181 

the early settlement of that state. George E. 
Brown, who went to some length to trace this 
migration, told me that he remembered the 
strain in the East in an early day and that it 
was possessed of rare excellence. The general 
importation of the Shire, nevertheless, does not 
date back more than thirty-five or forty years 
and there have been times when many more 
were imported than are coming across the ocean 
now. 

In his best estate the Shire is a magnificent 
drafter. He has begotten a vast number of 
high-priced geldings from the native stock. It 
is of record that the highest price ever bid for 
a gelding in the Chicago market — $660 — was 
bid for a red-roan of this breeding. Bulk and 
strength, depth of flank and rib and plenitude 
of bone are pre-eminently attributes of the 
Shire. These are qualities which we require in 
the grading up process and there is no question 
that many of the best geldings ever got by 
French stallions have been out of mares of 
English blood. It has been claimed for the 
breed that grading up may be accomplished to 
greater size with the Shire more quickly than 
with any other sort and the writer believes 
this to be correct. Mares carrying from one to 
three crosses of Shire blood are now perhaps 
as valuable stock as may be found on American 
farms, and their foals command the highest 
prices, no matter to what breed of drafter the 



182 THE HORSE BOOK. 

sire may belong. In short the grade Shire 
mare seems to assimilate readily with what- 
ever stallion she may be coupled, handing on 
her own bulk and strength and in this regard I 
count her especially valuable. Everybody likes 
a good Shire gelding. His massive proportions, 
strong back, wide, well sprung ribs, long, 
straight stride and generally powerful appear- 
ance commend him to all. In the higher crosses 
the mass of hair about the shanks is indubitably 
a detriment, which is but one further proof that 
the interest on this side of the ocean is suffering 
from the disregard of its needs displayed by 
the English breeders. The care of the legs of 
a Shire in this land of black gumbo soil and 
intense heat is assuredly one of the handicaps 
under which the breed strives to make head- 
way. 

Still despite this drawback, and the further 
one supplied by his often too straight pasterns, 
the elements of success in the betterment of our 
draft stocks inheres deeply in the Shire. His 
prepotency is acknowledged, his showing in the 
market place, numbers considered, is adequate. 
He has suffered undoubtedly from the very fact 
that his grade mares produce so admirably to 
stallions of other breeds. That many of them 
have been crossed out of their breed continu- 
ously, making for the glory and renown of oth- 
ers, is well known. His numbers are not great 
in this country actually or relatively. He has 



THE SUFFOLK. 183 

never been the favorite of the rich fancier nor 
has he ever enjoyed the patronage of any of 
the monumental characters in the breeding busi- 
ness, though his destiny has been guided by 
some very shrewd men, yet he has made good 
for many a poor man. 

THE SUFFOLK. 

Peculiar to the eastern counties of England 
in general and the county of Suffolk in partic- 
ular is the third of the British draft breeds — 
the Suffolk, one of the most distinctive types 
of the drafter known. It enjoys the unique dis- 
tinction of having but the one color — chestnut. 
This varies throughout all the different shades 
of that generic hue from the dark liver to the 
bright golden sorrel, with the most general 
shade the medium sorrel, as we understand the 
term in this coimtry. Here and there white 
markings are met with, but more rarely now 
than formerly, the white being deemed objec- 
tionable by the British breeders. Unlike the 
other two breeds of drafters in Britain the Suf- 
folk has a very clean leg with no more hair 
about it than the Percheron. 

Regarding the origin of the Suffolk investi- 
gators seem to have agreed that in its present 
habitat there practically always has been a race 
of chestnut horses. At least it was there back 
in the beginning of the eighteenth century and 
it does not appear that any infusion of foreign 



184 THE HORSE BOOK. 

or other alien blood has ever been made. Cer- 
tain it is that the clean leg and characteristic 
conformation were never brought about by 
crossing with French stallions. What the breed 
is today is solely the result of another lone 
very small territory to which this breed seems 
to have been indigenous. The chestnut color is 
readily transmitted to the Suffolk's grades and 
I have seen some very good specimens among 
them. 

It is doubtful if this breed has ever re- 
ceived in the United States the recognition to 
which its many good qualities entitle it. This 
perhaps is accounted for in the fact that the 
color is not a popular one among draft horse 
breeders generally, and from the personal ex- 
perience of the writer there has always been 
some sort of a lurking suspicion in the public 
mind that these clean-legged, heavy-quartered 
chestnuts were French horses of some sort 
masquerading under a name to which they had 
no right. It is hard to persuade some folks that 
the very hairy-legged Shire and the very 
smooth-legged Suffolk are bred in the same 
island. Nevertheless the Suffolk can trace his 
lineage back to the middle of the eighteenth 
century and beyond in an absolutely unbroken 
line. 

Insofar as they have been given a trial here 
they have made good. The individuals do not 



THE SUFFOLK. 185 

run as large as the Shire and have proved 
themselves eminently well suited for crossing 
on rather small mares, on the ranch and else- 
where. Their progeny is wonderfully uniform 
and they make most excellent workers. It is 
doubtful if there is in the entire list of draft 
breeds one which has a better disposition or 
greater tractability. In their native land it is 
the custom of their drivers to break these horses 
to work entirely without reins. In the plow, on 
the road, in the show ring, you may see them 
often hitched three tandem guided by one man 
and not a rein in sight. For simple endurance 
it is again questionable if this breed is sur- 
passed. In that part of England where they 
are used it is the custom to hook up the Suffolks 
as early in the morning as the daylight will per- 
mit and keep them plowing continuously until 
the daylight fades. 

It is on account of their docility and good 
tempers that the Suifolks are sought for cross- 
ing on range mares. In addition to putting neat 
bodies on their foals, arching up the neck and 
making them generally desirable in point of 
conformation, the Suffolk stallions almost in- 
variably imbue their get with such even tem- 
pers that the breaking process is comparatively 
simple. On account, however, of the clean legs 
and the common chestnut color the foals by Suf- 
folk stallions have no distinguishing marks and 
hence are swept into the great commercial 



186 THE HORSE BOOK. 

maelstrom without their sires obtaining due 
credit for them. Suffolks are being bred suc- 
cessfully in a number of the states and a ready 
market is found for the surplus annually, while 
a few are brought from England each year both 
by the big importers and by private individuals 
who have tested the breed and discovered its 
real merit. 

Properly speaking the Suffolk is an agricul- 
tural horse rather than a draft horse. He is in 
spots and places large enough for truck work in 
the great cities, but not as a rule is he used in 
the lorry in Britain. Indubitably his size is in- 
creasing from generation to generation and he 
is in the hands of most careful breeders who are 
pushing his interests in a most intelligent man- 
ner. The Suffolk is worth more extended at- 
tention by American breeders. 

THE LIGHT BREEDS— THE THOROUGH- 
BRED. 

Every improved breed of light horses owes 
its be'tterment in greater or lesser degree to the 
Thoroughbred or running race horse. This is 
our oldest pure-breed, the inception of its im- 
provement dating well back into the seventeenth 
century. Briefly described the foundation of 
the modern race horse was laid in the time of 
the second Charles of England, to which head- 
strong monarch, whatever else may be said of 
him, are due the thanks of all humanity for the 



THE THOROUGHBEED. 187 

good lie did in the encouragement of horse 
breeding. This foundation consisted in cross- 
ing stallions of Barb and Arabian blood with 
the native English mares used for the chase and 
other sports where speed was required. East- 
ern mares, known as the Royal mares in the 
Stud Book, were presented to the King and 
from this quite scanty foundation the magnifi- 
cent Thoroughbred superstructure has been 
raised. 

As it was for racing purposes that improve- 
ment was first attempted under the royal aus- 
pices, so it has been for the increase of racing 
speed that the breeders have worked continu- 
ously during all these years. Training for the 
course has a refining effect on the fibre of any 
horse. Continued high feeding on food that is 
not bulky or soothing but stimulating to the 
limit makes a horse nervous and cranky. The 
Thoroughbred type is well enough established, 
but not in the way the type of the Suffolk is, for 
instance. There is a quality about the race 
horse that cannot be mistaken, but the breed 
character is more in its refinement than its sim- 
ilarity of conformation. Here you will see a 
great three-cornered, camel-backed, raw-boned 
racer contending with a short-legged, almost 
cobby foe, the two utterly dissimilar in outline, 
but both unmistakably Thoroughbred. Few 
breeders have ever paid any attention to the 
conformation of the race horses they have bred. 



188 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

Speed has been the great desideratum and size 
and shape have been allowed to take care of 
themselves. 

It is not the intention to enter here into any 
discussion of Thoroughbred bloodlines save in 
one instance. Listening to men talk of Thor- 
oughbred pedigrees you hear them refer to the 
lines of Herod, Matchem and Eclipse. There 
were three great progenitors of speed in the 
early day — all of eastern origin. The Herod 
line traces in male ascent to the Byerly Turk, 
the Matchem line to the Godolphin Arabian and 
the Eclipse line to the Darley Arabian. These 
are the three great Thoroughbred strains. Nor 
is it the intention to discuss racing or breeding 
for race horses in any of its phases, but it may 
be noted in passing that the age of every race 
horse dates from Jan. 1 of the year in which 
he is foaled. Thus if a colt is dropped Jan. 1 
he is a year old on the 365th day after he was 
born. On the other hand if he is foaled at half- 
past eleven on the night of Dec. 31 he is a year 
old when he has acftually lived but thirty min- 
utes. This applies to trotters and pacers as 
well as Thoroughbreds. 

As has already been said, the influence of the 
Thoroughbred has been felt by every improved 
light breed. To cross in with the race horse 
was the easiest and quickest way to inject qual- 
ity, style, speed and stamina. Being the oldest 
breed, with a stud book started in England in 



THE THOROUGHBRED. 18^ 

1791, he was ready to the hand of all who de- 
sired to quicken material that was too coarse 
and too sluggish. So far as the general Amer- 
ican farmer is concerned the Thoroughbred is 
a good thing to let alone. His temperament is 
ill suited to the drudgery of agriculture. 

To the Thoroughbred may be accredited all 
the different coachers in greater or less meas- 
ure, and hunters, polo ponies and other horses 
in which speed and stamina are required are 
usually his direct offspring. All colors are to 
be seen among race horses, save only the pie- 
bald and skewbald. Grays are very rare now 
and so are roans, while blacks are not nearly 
so common as are the remaining hues. This 
leaves the most of the present-day Thorough- 
breds chestnut, bay and brown. AVhite mark- 
ings are plentiful and keep cropping out in a 
most bewildering manner when the race horse 
is used to cross upon cold-blooded stock. There 
is seldom any uniformity of either color or con- 
formation in the get of a Thoroughbred stal- 
lion. 

Though he played such an important part in 
the evolution of the Thoroughbred the Arabian 
horse is not now of much account. He still has 
his admirers, but for every purpo'se to which he 
can accommodate himself the Thoroughbred is 
vastly his superior. It is popularly supposed 
that the spotted circus horses are of Arabian 
origin. This is a mistake, as the Arabian is 



190 THE HORSE BOOK. 

one of the breeds in which a spotted, piebald or 
skewbald horse has never been known to exist. 
The common colors are gray, bay and brown, 
with a few chestnuts and once in a while, though 
very seldom, a black. The Arab is a small 
horse, running mostly under 15 hands, slight of 
conformation, very fine in quality, possessing 
undoubtedly much endurance but lacking in 
speed. As a sire of ladies' saddle horses of 
small stature he is useful and some polo ponies 
have been bred after him, but giving him due 
credit for all his good qualities the Arabian 
horse is a most unimportant factor in modern 
horse breeding. He has, however, some devoted 
adherents. 

THE STANDARD-BRED. 

Only insofar as he is the sire of the modern 
roadster can the standard-bred horse be given 
consideration here. Harness racing and breed- 
ing for speed are entirely beyond the purview 
of this work. However, as most of the success- 
ful sires of roadsters belong to the Hamble- 
tonian strain of the trotting breed it will be 
necessary to recount briefly how the breed was 
formed. 

Messenger was a gray Thoroughbred horse 
foaled in England in 1780. He was raced and 
in 1788 was imported to this country, landing 
at Philadelphia. He begot a very numerous 
progeny of horses that could trot and died in 



THE STANDAKD-BRED. 191 

1808. He begot a son called Mambrino, which 
in turn begot a son called Abdallah. A Norfolk 
trotter named Bellfounder was imported in 
1823. This horse is numbered 55 in Vol. I of 
the English Hackney Stud Book. He could trot 
some and he begot a mare which will forever 
remain famous without a name. Back of her 
were two generations tracing to imp. Messen- 
ger, and she is known as the Chas. Kent mare, 
her owner being of that name — a butcher in 
New York City. She had some small degree of 
speed. In due course of time the Kent mare 
was bred to Abdallah, and Rysdyk's Hamble- 
tonian (or Hambletonian 10, as he is otherwise 
called) was the result of that union, being 
dropped May 5, 1849. This colt developed phe- 
nomenal speed siring ability and from his loins 
sprang the entire family which now dominates 
the trotting and pacing sections of the breed. 

One family, however, did not entirely make 
the trotter and pacer, though it completely 
overshadows all others in it. Mambrino Pay- 
master, a son of the same Mambrino by imp. 
Messenger, which begot the sire of Hamble- 
tonian, sired Mambrino Chief, the founder of 
the so-called Mambrino family. The Canadian 
Pilots and Royal Georges, the Morgans, the 
Champions and various other strains were in- 
corporated and have been gradually absorbed. 
From time to time infusions of the Thorough- 
bred have been injected into the trotter, directly 



192 THE HORSE BOOK. 

in some instances, indirectly in others, and the 
seemingly endless discussion about the wisdom 
of using the runner to breed the trotter still 
prevails even unto this day. It is a subject at 
most only j^rolific of argument and invective 
and barren of result. It does not concern us. 

Pacers we seem always to have had with us. 
The historic amble of the riding palfrey in 
mediagval times was transmuted into the more 
decided sidewheel gait on American soil, where 
it took kindly root, and from time to time pacers 
were imported from Canada which founded 
families, now mostly swallowed up in the great 
whirlpool of the harness race horse. Time was 
when there was a distinctive ''pacing conforma- 
tion," marked by a very drooping rump and 
a peculiar set of the hind legs. Now the gaits 
seem interchangeable to a very large extent 
and, breeding trotter to trotter, no man knows 
whether the foal will trot or pace when it ar- 
rives. The mere shift of the check a hole or 
two or the addition or subtraction of an ounce 
or (two in the weight of the shoe will convert 
many a horse from the trot to the pace and vice 
versa. This interchangeability of gait is one of 
those things no man can understand. It should 
be understood of course that the trotter pro- 
gresses diagonally — that is, he advances the 
fore foot on one side and the hind foot on the 
other at the same time, while the pacer advances 
the feet on the same side at the same time. 



THE STANDAED-BRED. 193 

A great triumph have the American breed- 
ers scored in the formation of their harness 
racing breed. In less than a century they have 
succeeded in developing speed at the trot and 
pace buit little inferior to that of the Thorough- 
bred at the gallop. They have developed a 
breed of horses that has no equal for work on 
the road, a breed which for endurance in long 
journeys in harness is unsurpassed and a breed 
which for elegance of conformation, quality, 
style, courage, docility and general suitabilit)^ 
for the purposes intended stands in a class by 
itself. 

Large numbers of high-class heavy harness 
horses have come from within the ranks of the 
trotting breed, but they were misfits — horses 
that accidentally developed heavy harness 
excellence in spite of the fact that they were 
bred w'ith a different object in view. It will be 
unnecessary, once more, to enter into the peren- 
nial controversy as Ito the relative merits of the 
standard-bred and coach or Hackney-bred 
heavy harness horse. It must suffice to say that 
while magnificent specimens have appeared 
from time to 'time in the heavy harness classes 
at the great shows no man has yet succeeded in 
turning out consistently high-class animals of 
the sort from standard-bred or trotting-bred 
parents. 

With the lapse of time and the increase of 
wealth in this country the qualifications re- 

13 



194 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

quired in the roadster have changed. Not so 
long ago any horse that oouid trot a mile in 
3 :00 was called a roadster in the technical sense 
of the word. Now the ranks of the road horse 
are recruited from among the very fastest of 
the great racing performers, both trotting and 
pacing. The horse that can not trot to wagon 
in 2:30 brings but small money on account of 
his speed and the 3 :00 horse is only a pleasure 
animal. That rate of speed is so common now- 
adays as to be a negligible quantity in the mak- 
ing of the price. 

The great general use for the horse of trot- 
ting blood is, however, on the road in utilitarian 
walks of life. The race course and the speed- 
way consume but an infinitesimal percentage of 
all the trotting-bred horses foaled each season. 
The breed is a priceless boon to the country and 
its fame has extended the wide world over. 

Forty years ago the Morgan was the most 
favored of the road types. This strain may 
be traced to a single ancestor — Justin Morgan, 
foaled in Vermont in 1793. Various pedigrees 
have been allotted to him, but the generally ac- 
cepted belief now is that his breeding was large- 
ly Thoroughbred. He was a phenomenal horse 
in eveiy way, small, but of astounding strength 
and stamina. From him descended the Black 
Hawk, Bashaw, Golddust, Lambert and other 
families, all of which were famous for road qual- 
ities and good looks. Some of the fastest trot- 



THE STANDAED-BBED. 195 

ters carry Morgan blood in tlieir veins and a 
measure of it is also to be found in the Ameri- 
can gaited saddle horse. The Morgan type may 
briefly be described as short of leg, thick and 
round of barrel, courageous and possessing en- 
durance and intelligence of a high order. In 
the middle of the last century the strain was 
very popular, but it has nevertheless been 
absorbed into the great trotting breed and lit- 
tle of it remains to bear witness to its pristine 
excellence and popularity. An effort has been 
made to restore the breed to its foraier posi- 
tion. A stud book is maintained for it and gov- 
ernmental aid has been extended in the attempt 
to rehabilitate it. Modern horse market de- 
mand, however, calls for a horse of greater size 
and speed, and it is doubtful if any good could 
be accomplished by restoring the strain. Classes 
are still made for Morgans at many state fairs, 
but the general incongruity of the displays made 
prove that they no longer possess a fixed type. 
The decadence of the Morgan horse is due solely 
to the demands of advancing ci\'ilization. 

Next to the American the Orloff trotter of 
Russia shows the greatest amount of speed. 
This breed has had very few representatives in 
this country, but one or two of them have found 
their way into the Trotting Register as ances- 
tresses of s-tandard performers. The founda- 
tion of the breed was laid in 1775 by Count 
Alexis Orloff Tchismenski by the mating of an 



196 THE HORSE BOOK. 

Arabian stallion with a Danish mare. The re- 
sult of this union was a colt called Polkan 1st, 
and he proved a great sire. Continued intelli- 
gent effort soon raised the strain to the dignity 
of a breed, recourse being had to the English 
Thoroughbred, the Arab, Barb and Dutch 
breeds for new blood. The Imperial govern- 
ment of Russia has extended plentiful and time- 
ly aid to further the development of the Orloff, 
by subsidizing stallions and offering very valua- 
ble stakes and purses in trotting races. A high 
degree of speed has been achieved, despite the 
handicap imposed by the peculiar racing rigs 
used. Of later years, however, American sul- 
kies and harness and more or less American 
training methods have promoted a material low- 
ering of the Russian records at all distances. 
Determined- to take advantage of the lates-t 
American methods of training and racing the 
trotter the Imperial authorities engaged the 
noted American trainer George Fuller of Ten- 
nessee to go to Russia and take charge of the 
training operations at the royal stud. Part of 
his work was to instruct Russian horsemen in 
the true principles of the art of balancing trot- 
ters and so getting their speed out of them. A 
few American trainers also have been resident 
in Russia for years and some American stallions 
have been imported to cross with the Orloff 
mares. Distances over which these horses are 
raced are long, extending sometimes to three 



THE COACHERS. 197, 

miles or even more and are measured in versts. 
Much racing is also done on the ice, and while 
the Orloff is somewhat plain according to our 
ideas of .trotting conformation and his action 
would not be popular in this country, he is 
nevertheless a real trotter in every way worthy 
of the name. 

T'HE^ C0ACHEK8. 

Wlien we speak of a coacher or coach horse 
we refer to' a horse well suited to pull a coach. 
But we have no coaches in these days, as we 
once had, and if we will look at all closely into 
the matter we will find that with the negligible 
exception of the Cleveland Bay not one of the 
breeds we now call coachers was developed with 
the object of pulling a coach. This is a rather 
anomalous state of affairs, but the condition is 
neveirtheless as stated. Among the hills in the 
English county of York the Cleveland Bay 
actually at one time did yeoman service in haul- 
ing the heavy mail coaches, but there the coach 
connection stops. War has been the ruling mo- 
tive in the production of all the other breeds of 
coachers as we know them in this countrj^ today. 
It was to supply remounts for the army that 
the French government began the nationaliza- 
tion of its horse-breeding business. It was war 
that induced the establishment of the different 
strains of coach hoirses in Germany. The ob- 
ject in both cases was to obtain a remount that 



198 THE HOESE BOOK. 

could carry a soldier and his kit over the 
ground at a fair rate of speed. Following the 
ethical coach idea out to its logical conclusion it 
seems strange that the only real coacher of the 
lot should, after fair and full trial here, have 
dropped from sight entirely and that in his 
native land he should have become almost a 
memory — not quite, almost. On the other hand 
the war horses of France and Germany have 
thriven and multiplied apace with us, the whole 
of which forms a somewhat strange commen- 
tary on the peculiar mutability of equine af- 
fairs. 

Instead of the old style heavy mail coach we 
now have the heavier sorts of carriages, the 
brougham, the landau and the like, and the 
horse required for use in them we term 
''coachy." As the prevailing tendency on the 
part of carriagemakers is to build these vehicles 
lighter and lighter, the demand calls for small- 
er horses than it formerly did. In the United 
States carriages of all sorts are built on a light- 
er plan than in any other country and the use 
of rubber tires has aided not a little in this evo- 
lution. Hence while the carriage , horse or 
coach horse of the commerce of today is con- 
siderably larger than the park horse he is no 
longer a giant. Sixteen hands is about his 
limit and he must not be at all coarse. 

Quality is the first essential of the carriage 
horse, which term I prefer to use for the com- 



THE COACHERS. 199 

mercial article rather than coach horse. He 
must be upstanding and commanding in out- 
look, long in neck, round of barrel, apple- 
smooth in quarter and with a bit of range to 
him so that he may not have a cobby or squatty 
appearance. His throttle and head must be 
neat and bloodlike, his tail well carried and his 
temper good, for he has many weary hours of 
standing still to do while milady makes her 
calls or while waiting for the train. His action 
must be high and free in front, though by no 
means exaggerated and speed is not required 
of him. In short the heavy carriage horse 
must be an aristocrat all over or he does not 
fill the bill. Majesty of mien and step are his 
distinguishing characteristics. 

Dealers who cater to the highest trade tell me 
that they prefer these carriage horses under 
rather than over 16 hands. As to the limit of 
weight, it is hard to say. Weight has little to 
do with establishing value in a carriage horse. 
Still we may safely place the limit of 1,250 
pounds as abundant to go with a height of 16 
hands and preserve the proper proportions. 
British buyers are more eager bidders for 
horses over 16 hands than the best eastern buy- 
ers are. In John Bull's island they still stick 
to the older-fashioned heavy type of carriage 
and consequently they require the larger sorts, 
not so much as necessary motive power as to 
preserve the due relation between horses and 
vehicles. 



200 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

Be it said here that it is no trick at all to 
grow coach-bred colts to the proper size. The 
fact is that it is easy to grow them too large. 
According to the demands of the present-day 
market, the big lubberly 16,3-hand horse is a 
poor one to breed. With such size a horse is 
rarely able to handle himself. This brings us 
to a consideration of the coach stallion to 
choose for breeding the carriage horses now 
demanded. I count such a stallion of 1,350 
pounds plenty big enough and right at 16 hands 
tall enough. Perfection, which standing still was 
the very beau ideal of a carriage horse sire, 
just topped 16 hands a mere fraction of an 
inch and his weight never exceeded 1,350 
pounds. The sire of the half-bred pair which 
King Edward recently bought from Mr. Van- 
derbilt is a. small horse. The great big ones 
have never proved as sires the equals of those 
of medium size. The lubberly kind is without 
quality, and as quality is a prime essential 
coarse stallions cannot succeed as sires of high- 
class carriage horses, especially when mated 
with mares lacking blood. 

A great many of the coach horses imported 
have been too large and with too little quality. 
A survey of the advertising files of The Breed- 
er's Gazette will show that importers have 
advertised coachers weighing 1,600 pounds and 
upwards. I have seen mares in the show ring 
weighing not a pound less than 1,700 and their 



THE COACHEKS. 201 

owners bragged about it. Horses of that weight 
are expressers not coachers, and cannot be ex- 
pected to beget the sort for which the trade pays 
the big money. This coach horse business has 
often been put forward as a sort of double- 
barrelled proposition: "Get plenty of size and 
if you do not get a carriage horse you will get 
a good general-purpose horse," which may be 
all right enough in its way, but a shotgun 
policy never yet has resulted in the production 
of high-class animals and it never will. 

It is owing to this rather indefinite policy 
that many failures of coach stallions to breed 
well may be charged. Lack of suitable mares 
also has been a grave handicap, but perhaps 
the most potent factor of all, where a coach 
horse has failed to give satisfaction, is the utter 
lack of an adequate conception of what a car- 
riage horse is which prevails very generally 
the country over. I have known coach stal- 
lions mated with every kind of mare from a 
700-pound cayuse to a 1,700-pound three-cross 
Percheron and then be roundly anathematized 
because he failed to beget a uniform progeny. 
It takes a mare of refinement of conformation 
and good blood to produce a carriage horse 
that will sell to advantage. If the desire is to 
breed express horses, the use of the 1,600-pound 
alleged coacher is defensible. Otherwise it is 
not. There are exceptions to every rule, but 
the medium-sized coach stallion is the one to 



202 THE HOESE BOOK. 

use when the intention is to breed carriage 
horses. There is money enough in breeding 
such horses to make it well worth the while of 
any man to give the problem careful study. 

. THE FRENCH OOACHER. 

French Coacher is a name which we have 
bestowed of our own motion on a breed of 
horses which goes by an entirely different title 
in France. In the Gallic Republic this breed 
is called demi-sang, which means "half-bred." 
In the seventeenth century the French set 
about the nationalization of their horse breed- 
ing interests and to that end .the government 
stud or haras was established. Through all 
the tremeudous vicissitudes encountered by 
the French nation, through the change from 
monarchy to democracy, through the terrors of 
the Commune and the enforced national lassi- 
tude following the defeats at Waterloo and 
Sedan, the policy of horse improvement has 
been maintained with a central guiding hand 
and one fixed purpose in view. That purpose 
was to supply remounts for the army. To this 
end Thoroughbred stallions were mated with 
native French mares in a far back day and the 
progeny of course was half-bred or demi-sang. 
So these horses were called then and so they 
are called now. A more euphonious title, mean- 
ing something to our people, was required when 
these horses were first imported and the name 
French Coacher was chosen. 



THE FEENCH COAOHEE. 203 

When the nineteenth century was about one- 
third gone the French Government recognized 
two things: first that the continued infusion of 
the blood of the Thoroughbred was necessary 
for the production of the horses it desired and, 
second, that a fast trot was equally essential to 
getting the mounted soldier over the ground 
with the least possible fatigue and the greatest 
celerity. Consequently in 1836 the government 
began to offer prizes for trotting races and that 
policy has been continued to the present day. 
All the records of all the races that have ever 
been trotted under the auspices of the French 
Government are available. It was not how- 
ever until the present year (1907) that a stud 
book for French trotters was compiled and pub- 
lished. This is the "Stud Book Trotteur" com- 
piled by M. Louis Cauchois and altogether a 
work of amazing interest. It shows how the 
French, without outside aid of any kind have 
developed a race of long-distance trotters to a 
highly creditable rate of speed. According to 
our way of figuring the speed is not great, but 
its uniformity at the various distances is aston- 
ishing, Eaces at one mile (1,609 metres) are 
not popular in France. Instead the popular 
distances are from 1,750 to 4,000 metres or 
from around a mile and a quarter to a little 
over three miles, 

Eecords in France are always rated by the 
kilometre (roughly five-eighths of a mile), no 



204 THE HORSE BOOK. 

matter what the distance traversed in the race. 
That the record, thus proportioned, for the 
1,750-nietre distance differs only about two 
seconds from the record for over three miles 
speaks well for the endurance of the French 
trotter. Not only this but the races are trotted 
over turf tracks of the most uneven character, 
to saddle from a standing start and the methods 
employed by the French trainers are, in the 
light of our American experience, execrable. 
The French are the only people who have un- 
dertaken to inject the element of trotting speed 
into their coachers and this, briefly described 
is the manner in which they have done it. 

It is obvious, however, that not all the fami- 
lies in a breed of such promiscuous origin could 
have developed speed at the trot. Nor has the 
attempt been made to spread the trotting con- 
formation and action over the entire strain. 
Hence it comes about that there are two divi- 
sions — the demi-sang trotteur and the demi- 
sang carrossier, which terms being interpreted 
mean French Coachers of the trotting type and 
French Coachers of the coach horse type. As 
it always has been in the evolution of any cer- 
tain type one or more strains have given the 
best results and so it is with the French trot- 
ter. The blood of the phenomenal sire Fuschia 
now dominates the entire French trotting fab- 
ric, and as a sire of speed, according to 
French limitations, the world has never seen 



THE FRENCH COAOHEE. 205 

his like. Infusions of Thoroughbred blood are 
still being poured into the breed and indubi- 
tably the type is changing. As between the two 
now quite distinct types each must choose for 
himself. The trotter is going up on legs some- 
what, but the refining influence of the track is 
plainly visible in him. 

From the beginning the object has been to 
secure a high-folding action in front and a clean 
lift behind, and the training and racing over 
rough turf tracks have aided in fixing this char- 
acteristic. The action of the racing trotter in 
France is not duplicated elsewhere. He goes 
high and he goes on with it. Annually the 
government purchases the best of the three- 
year-old stallions and relegates them for service 
to the stud, where they are available to the 
breeders at merely nominal fees. Under the law 
provision is made for the maintenance of 3,300 
stallions and of these something over 2,000 now 
in service are of the demi-sang breed. France 
takes mighty good care to have plenty of 
horses available for her army. 

Being bred so close to the blood French 
Coachers are general]}^ bay, brown, chestnut or 
black. The other hues are not wanted. 

In his career in this country the French 
Coacher has suffered both from lack of suitable 
mares and continuity of effort on the part of 
those who have patronized him. Besides the 
efforts of the importers, more especially in days 



206 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

gone by to catch the public eye with too large 
individuals never did him any good. Evidence 
nevertheless is on every hand that when the 
French Coach stallion of the right sort is 
mated with mares of running or trotting blood, 
good quality and suitable shape, success fol- 
lows consistently. 

The question is often asked if horses of this 
breed are branded in France. Seldom if ever 
is a government brand to be seen on one of 
them. Most of the stallions are owned by the 
government or by private individuals who 
either can not afford to or do not care to com- 
pete with it, but may use their stallions to their 
own mares. Once in a great while a demi-sang 
horse is presented for veterinary examination 
and approval. In the event of his being ac- 
cepted he is branded with the five-pointed star 
beneath the mane, but occasions of the sort are 
so rare that the breed as we know it in this 
country may be said to carry no governmental 
brand at all. 

THE GERMAN COAOHER. 

Reading the history of continental European 
development and bearing in mind that the Ger- 
man Empire of today is composed of numerous 
states and principalities it is not strange that it 
should he prolific of different types of coach 
horses. For perhaps two centuries past efforts 
at the improvement of the horse with a view to 



THE GERMAN" COACHER. 207 

supplying good animals for army use have been 
made. Necessarily, owing to the number of 
separate governments involved prior to the 
consolidation of the empire, there was no fixed 
single policy followed, for which reason there 
are marked differences between the various 
breeds or strains; The multiplicity of states 
likewise renders it hard to reach very accurate 
conclusions regarding the early history of 
most of these strains, but there is no doubt 
that in point of antiquity these horses rank 
with any of their congeners. 

It does not appear that the Germans have 
made extended use of the Thoroughbred in the 
evolution of some strains of their coach horses, 
though in others the trail of the blood is plainly 
discernible. It is well known that the German 
cavalryman with his kit weighs more than the 
same soldier in any other army and hence it is 
not to be wondered at that we find the German 
horses possessing much substance. No effort 
to inject speed at the trot has been made at any 
time and hence the German Coach horse as we 
know him is, so to speak, in a class by himself 
and not comparable to or to be judged by the 
same standards as his Gallic neighbor. 

The old Duchy of Oldenburg and the district 
of East Friesland produce the most of the 
German horses imported to the United States. 
It is probable that consistent effort at improve- 
ment has been carried on in this region for a 



208 THE HOESE BOOK. 

longer period than elsewhere in any part of the 
empire. Less use, too, of the Thoroughbred 
has jirobably been made there than in any other 
district. Government aid is extended to the 
breeders and stallions are annually approved 
for public service. Conservative always and 
hastening slowly the Oldenburg breeders have 
succeeded in turning out what is probably the 
most uniform breed of the kind extant. Bays, 
browns and blacks are the established colors 
and must have been favored for a long time, 
as it is a very rare thing to see an off-colored 
colt after one of these horses. German methods 
,and regulations are at times hard for the Ameri- 
can mind to understand, but from such informa- 
tion as may be gathered, horse breeding in Ger- 
many is carried on in a manner which is about 
half way between the nationalized system of 
France and the free individualism of Britain. 
Many questions have been put regarding the 
brands visible on German Coachers. Applica- 
tion was made to the Imperial Minister of Agri- 
culture at Berlin for an official statement, which 
runs thus : 

"In Germany, that is in Oldenburg, East Friesland, and 
in parts of Holstein, only young stallions or stallion foals 
are branded. These brands are for the purpose to prove 
that the young stallions received premiums. In East 
Prussia all the produce of mares that are entered in the 
East Prussian Stud Book are branded with the double 
'Elchshovel.' The State has nothing to do with this busi- 
ness of branding." 



THE GERMAN COACHER. 209 

Desiring also the pronunciamento of some 
one well known in the trade application was 
made to Herr Ed. Liibben for a comprehensive 
statement regarding these brands. He writes 
as follows : 

"All Oldenburg and East Friesland horses exported to 
your country, passed or not by the government, are 
branded on the left hind leg. Besides that, in the East 
Friesland district the government-approved horses are 
branded also on the neck, and in the Oldenburg district 
those three-year-old horses which got a government pre- 
mium are also branded on the neck. At some local shows 
the prize-winning colts also get a brand on their necks. 
There being so very few government-approved stallions, 
in fact hardly any more than are wanted in the districts 
here, there could only be very, very few sold to go abroad. 
From this you can see that every Oldenburg or East 
Friesland horse exported to your country has to be branded 
on the left hind leg. In a few cases you may find one over 
there which is also branded on the neck. The Holstein 
and East Prussian districts have other books and differ- 
ent brands and regulations, but they hardly sell any to 
to go to your country." 

From this it will be seen that the brands on 
German Coachers form rather a complicated 
subject, but more information, or rather more 
extended information, does not seem to be 
forthcoming. 

It was at the Columbian that the American 
public had its first real introduction to the Ger- 
man Ooacher in his proper estate. It is a ques- 
tion in my mind if we have seen better horses 
of the breed since, though perhaps we have seen 
as good. During the era of stagnation that fol- 
lowed the closing of the gates of the beautiful 
White City some little trading in these horses 

14 



210 THE HORSE BOOK. 

persisted and more or less desultory importing 
operations were continued. At that time 
liorse-breeding was not in high favor and state 
fair exhibits of horses attracted little attention. 
Still despite this most discouraging reception 
those who were interested in the German 
Coac'her kept on showing him and as a natural 
consequence the breed became familiar to most 
fairgoers. Such stallions as did find buyers be- 
came popular in the districts in which they 
were placed and when the tide finally turned 
the demand for them opened up in fine shape. 
They got a lot of good mares to their cover at 
that time and they begot a lot of colts and fillies 
that were well suited to the export trade, then 
flourishing, with the result that their get ac- 
quired popularity for the reason that a market 
could readily be found for it. 

At that the German Coacher has suffered 
from a too general ignorance on the part of 
farmers of the principles involved in breeding 
carriage horses. Full of substance and some- 
what inclined to grossness the German Coacher 
has for the most part been mated with mares 
that were too large and possessed too little 
quality. That the quality kind of German 
Ooacher will beget the right kind of quality and 
action when properly mated admits of no doubt. 
We have seen his grades at shows and else- 
where that filled the bill very close to the edge 
and the beautiful dark brown color which so 



THE CLEVELAND BAY. 211 

often follows the use of such a stallion has 
greatly endeared him to the farmers in many 
districts. 

Taking all this into consideration, and credit- 
ing him with all the good he has done, it must 
be admitted that the German Coacher as he is 
imported to this country lacks quality. Wheth- 
er the German breeders desire to remedy this 
defect, I do not know. In the last few years 
there has been no evidence of a move in this 
direction, albeit we have seen some show 
horses of the breed which indicate that there 
is quality within it which might be utilized for 
its general refinement. German breeders would 
serve themselves well, so far as the American 
trade is concerned, if they would inject more 
quality, style and "gimp" into the breed as a 
whole, and trappier action. At that the Ger- 
man Coacher is here to stay, a popular horse 
and deservedly so, 

THE CLEVELAND BAY AND YORKSHIRE 
COACH HORSE. 

Only passing notice need be extended to 
these two breeds. They had their trial in this 
country and have been discarded as any sort of 
a general factor in our horse breeding economy. 
The Cleveland Bay breed has existed in York- 
shire, England, for centuries and in an older 
day was used both for agricultural and coach 
work on the road. As a matter of fact there 



212 THE HORSE BOOK. 

never was much of anything about the breed to 
recommend it. Cold-blooded and not attractive 
in conformation or action, when bred in its 
purity, it never appeale'd specially to American 
horsemen. Eecognizing that the Cleveland 
Bay was too slow certain English breeders in- 
jected Thoroughbred blood into it and called 
the result the Yorkshire Coach Horse. There 
are separate stud books in England, but in this 
country both sorts are registered in one book. 
Some very beautiful specimens of the York- 
shire Coach horse have been shown here as 
Cleveland Bays, which was all right so long as 
they were all recorded in the Cleveland Bay 
book, but one of the most attractive — though 
possibly not the best — we remember was a 
golden bay stallion bred in Illinois and his sire 
was a horse with three or four crosses of 
Thoroughbred blood. In short the Cleveland 
Bay had neither the blood nor the action to be- 
come permanently popular in America. True, 
he did beget from fine trotting-bred mares some 
high-class carriage horses, but then we must 
remember the old Scotch proverb that "if you 
boil a whinstone in butter the bree (soup) will 
be good." Yet the Cleveland Bay alone of all 
our so-called coach breeds was in reality a 
coach horse within the original meaning of 
that term. 



THE HACKNEY. 213 

THE HACKNEY. 

Prior to the end of the eig*hteenth century the 
use of wheeled vehicles was not general in. 
Britain, nor indeed, anywhere else. Roads were 
few and bad and people stirred abroad afoot or 
ahorseback. In the eastern part of England 
there was at that time a strain of riding horses 
called the Norfolk Trotter and the Hackney is 
his lineal descendant. It is peculiar how dif- 
ferent nations develop live stock along such dif- 
ferent lines with the same object in view. In 
the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth 
centuries the Norfolk Trotter was a fast horse, 
able to gallop, trot, walk and stay. Yet he was 
a thick-necked, heavy-headed, cobby little horse, 
devoid of much beauty, if we are to believe that 
the artists of the 'time have portrayed him cor- 
rectly. There is no question about his speed 
over long distances. There is no need to bur- 
den these pages with the records of feats 
achieved in the dim and misty past, but there 
is no denying the fact that the trotting inher- 
itance bequeathed to the Kent Mare by imp. 
Bellf ounder materially assisted in the formation 
of our own unchallenged trotting breed. The 
action of these old-time English trotters was 
high both fore and aft, and the general trappi- 
ness of the type seems always to have been one 
of its characteristics despite its heavy forehand 
and substantial thickness. 

With the more universal introduction of 



214 THE HORSE BOOK. 

wheeled vehicles came a general refining of the 
breed. As we have seen the history of the Hack- 
ney in this country dates back to the importa- 
tion of Bellfounder in 1823, but there is a great 
gap to be bridged between that date and the 
inception of what we may call the general trans- 
ference of the breed across the ocean. It was 
in about 1880 that 'this was begun and at first 
the Hackney had a hard row to hoe. The im- 
porters seemed to have a craze for bringing 
over the largest horses they could lay hands on 
— horses that today would be discarded. Then 
came the era of the horse-in-harness show. In 
England the Hackney was par excellence the 
favored carriage horse for use in the lighter 
styles of vehicle. He could put up his knees and 
hocks in approved fashion. So some of our 
rich men began to support him. 

About this "time the bottom of the market for 
trotting-bred horses dropped out so far that it 
seemed it could never be discovered again. 
Stallions that had been doing a profitable busi- 
ness at from $50 to $100 a mare suddenly found 
themselves without anything to do. They were 
offered for what they would bring. The deal- 
ers grabbed at their opportunity and it is no 
exaggeration to say that in the seven or eight 
years which followed 1890 thousands of trot- 
ting-bred stallions were emasculated, docked 
and converted into heavy harness horses. Poor 
excuses they were at the game, these rough old 



THE HACKNEY. 215 

stags, but they were a home product and the 
invasion of the Hackney was resented in such 
a partisan spirit that he could not or at least 
did not get half what was coming to him, if that. 
Even with the importation of very high-class 
horses and mares — London Hackney Show and 
Eoyal champions — ^^the Hackney labored under 
the stern refusal of the judges to take him 
seriously. Some show yard decisions rendered 
about that time must lie very heavy on the con- 
sciences of the men who rendered them, espe- 
cially in the light of these later days. 

Still the Hackney men stuck to their guns. 
The theater of importation was removed large- 
ly from the West to the East and by sheer force 
of inherent merit the Hackney began to force 
recognition. Times mended and men began to 
grow richer. Simultaneously the supply of old 
stags of trotting breed began to die out. Im- 
portations of hig'h-clas'S performers, perfectly 
mannered and gifted with superb action and 
conformation were made, and the Hackney set 
out on the triumphal march which has since 
culminated in his victory in almost all of the 
important challenge prizes at all of the great 
shows. There is no gainsaying that the Hack- 
ney has fully come into his own as the recog- 
nized park horse in the United States as well 
as England. Extensive importations of the 
breed are made annually, not so much for breed- 
ing purposes as for showing in harness and in 



216 THE HORSE BOOK. 

many instances higher prices are paid in Eng- 
land by American dealers than their British 
brethren can afford. 

Typically the Hackney is not a large horse. 
Few run to 16 hands and preserve the type re- 
quired by the best judges. There are still some 
heavy specimens to be found, but they usually 
lack in those qualities which have made for the 
success of the breed. With the lapse of time 
there have come to be two schools among Hack- 
ney men generally — those who must have action 
first, last and all the time as the prime essential 
and those who desire quality and beauty of 
conformation first and a more moderate degree 
of action to go with it. Personally I am in- 
clined to side with those who must have action 
at all hazards. To me a Hackney is not worth 
the name unless he can go like the proverbial 
house afire. Personally, moreover, I know this : 
You may go to the New York market with a 
rather plain horse that can take his knees to his 
chin and his hocks to his dock and you can sell 
him right off the reel, whereas if you have one 
that is full of quality and beauty but can not go 
much you will have to search some time for a 
buyer. There is no more pleasing sight in all 
horsedom than a well broken Haclmey going 
around the arena at the end of a long w'hite 
rope, doing his stunt with his knees and hocks 
as he should and withal going on with it. I 
have little patience with the kind that *'can go 



THE HACKNEY. 217 

all day in a half -bushel, " as the contemptuous 
reference was to all Hackneys in the days of 
their novitiate in this country. We need a bit 
of speed in this country as well as lift. 

Though we all know what real Hackney con- 
formation is there is still a considerable lack of 
uniformity in the breed. The similarity of 
action I count the most salient of its features. 
The somewhat heavy neck and rather square 
head are still to be met up with, but the selec- 
tive operations of the best breeders are tending 
toward refinement consistently and persist- 
ently. 

While pure-bred Hackneys have not been 
produced in great numbers in this country we 
have had enough of them to indicate that the 
British breeders have no monopoly on the pro- 
duction of the best. True, the importation of 
large numbers of the highest-class stallions and 
mares is too recent to i:)ermit of their having 
been relegated from the show yard to the stud 
and produced colts that have matured, but it 
will be strange indeed if with the material we 
now have to work with we cannot at least hold 
John Bull level at his own game. In passing I 
want to say that I count the emasculation of old 
Forest King nothing short of a national calam- 
ity. 

When crossed with native mares the Hackney 
stallion of the right type has made good. He 
has transmitted his conformation and action in 



218 THE HORSE BOOK. 

due and proper proportion, but tlie breeding of 
Hackneys is not a game to be played promiscu- 
ously. No one need think for instance that the 
splendid action of the sire will be reproduced 
in the progeny as it shows up in the parent. 
Far from it; the aptitude for development is 
transmitted, not the finished article. It is much 
the same as with trotting or pacing speed. Did 
any one ever hear of a champion Hildred com- 
ing green from 'the field or a Nancy Hanks, 
2:04, emanating rough from the pasture? In 
this way disappointment has often been ex- 
perienced by those who have bred native mares 
to Hackney stallions and discovered that the 
action of the colts as three-year-olds did not 
equal or at least approximate that of the sire. 
Disappointment with the mating has then been 
expressed and the colt sold to a dealer, only to 
develop into a park horse of approved action. 

Medium size, from 14.3 to 15.2 hands, and 
trappiness of action, together with much ro- 
tundity of form and sloping shoulders are char- 
acteristics of the Hackney in his best estate. 
By trappiness of action I do not mean to con- 
vey that a good-going Hackney picks his fore 
feet up high and then 'slams them down hard 
on the ground again very little in advance of 
where they were elevated. Instead of this 
rough and choppy action the Hackney should 
advance his fore feet as though following the 
rim of a rolling wheel, not dwelling in his re- 



THE HACKNEY. 219 

covery but bringing the foot up again quickly 
and throwing it upward and forward again with 
machine-like regularity. The hocks should be 
flexed very sharply, brought up well beneath 
the body and the hind feet advanced with a 
springy regular motion that it is not easy to 
describe. In conclusion the Hackney is the only 
breed of horses in which the proverb ''a good 
big one will always beat a good little one" does 
not hold good. 

The Hackney pony, which is achieving a great 
vogue in this country at present, is one of the 
most attractive members of the equine family. 
It is safe to say that the most exaggerated 
action is to be found in these diminutive Hack- 
neys. In Britain these little horses, which range 
from 12.2 to 14 hands in height, have always 
been very popular and many of them not only 
possess wonderfully high action but quite a bit 
of speed as well. It is only of later years that 
they have become favorites in America, but 
nowadays higher prices are paid for them here 
than in any other country. The Hackney pony, 
properly so called, is eligible for registration in 
the Hackney Stud Book, height restrictions not 
being imposed. Breeding these ponies is a lu- 
crative business, but has not been largely un- 
dertaken with us as yet. The demand is broad, 
however, and constantly increasing and af- 
fluence apparently awaits the breeder who can 
produce a supply of the goods desired. 



220 THE HORSE BOOK. 

THE SADDLE HORSE.— THE AMERICAN 
FIVE-GAITED SADDLER. 

United States breeders can lay claim to hav- 
ing developed two breeds of horses — the stand- 
ard-bred and the five-gaited or so-called Ken- 
tucky or American saddler. Both are essentially 
American products and both distinctive in the 
great realm of horse breeding. Development of 
the gaited horse was born of necessity. In the 
new country pioneered by the old Virginia 
families distances were long and roads almost 
unknown. Journeys had to be made in the 
saddle over mountain and vale, through forest 
and over stream, and the mind of the rider was 
bent to the production of gaits which would 
rid himself of the discomfort of the everlasting 
jolt of the trot and his horse of the hardship 
imposed by the canter or hand-gallop. The net 
result was a broken step which enabled the rider 
to sit at his ease in the saddle and get over 
the ground comfortably and quickly. 

While the history of the formation of this 
breed dates back a comparatively short time 
and lies an open book before us, it is unneces- 
sary to go farther than to state that its main 
original factors were the Thoroughbred and 
the pacer. The true pace is an objectionable 
gait under saddle. The modifications of it, 
which have been achieved, form the apotheosis 
of equine locomotion under the saddle. Den- 



THE FIVE-GAITED SADDLE HOESE. 221 

mark, by imp. Hedgeford, was the Thorough- 
bred stallion whose name stands out most prom- 
inently in the history of the breed, as does that 
of imp. Messenger in the annals of the stand- 
ard-bred. Development of the gaited saddler 
has been in the hands of men of much intelli- 
gence and in some cases more or less wealth, 
and though the breed is by no means numerous, 
nor the breeding studs large, it has overspread 
much of the country, winning its way by its 
delightful qualities, beauty and docility. Apti- 
tude to go the five gaits is now a firmly fixed 
characteristic, transmitted with much regu- 
larity, but like the speed of the trotter and the 
high 'action of the show ring Hackney the pe- 
culiar gaits as we see them in the arena are the 
result of competent training. The get of the 
gaited saddler will break its step naturally in 
what is popularly termed a " singlef oot, " but 
the running walk, fox trot or slow pace and 
the rack are acquired correctly only under the 
touch of the master hand. Not only this but 
when once acquired in acceptable form the rack 
is readily forgotten or becomes corrupted if 
not persevered with. 

Five gaits are required of the gaited saddle 
horse — the walk, trot, rack and canter, and as 
a fifth gait either the fox trot, running walk or 
slow pace. Demand for three-gaited horses in 
the eastern markets — ^walk, trot, canter — after 
the English fashion has caused many of the 



222 THE HORSE BOOK. 

five-gaited horses to be marketed with the 
three gaits only. Ih fact the five-gaited horse 
has never been popular in the East. The West 
and South have been his strongholds and Ken- 
tucky "and Missouri and to some extent Illinois 
are his chief nurseries. The eastern prejudice 
lagainst the five-gaited horse is against his 
"easy gaits," not against the horse. Kentucky- 
bred five-gaited horses divested of their extra 
gaits have been sold in the East for record- 
breaking prices and won many firsts and 
championships at the leading shows. The five- 
gaited horse is fairly popular in Boston. 

It is not altogether easy to describe the con- 
formation of the five-gaited horse. The reader 
is referred to the illustrations. It is still hard- 
er to describe the gaits. One man only — W. R. 
Goodwin, of The Breeder's Gazette — has ever 
succeeded in setting down on paper what 
happens as the horse goes through his five- 
gaits, and I present in full a descriptive article 
by him which appeared in that paper and which 
is accepted as standard authority on the sub- 
ject. 

"One of the present encouragements to horse breeding 
is the keen and widespread interest in saddle horses. 
The report of the seventeenth annual meeting of the 
American Saddle Horse. Breeders' Association in our last 
issue gave proof sufficient of the stability of this branch 
of American horse breeding. That association has sought 
to establish types through the concentration of blood and 
allow the user to select the gaits to which his mount 
shall be educated. Whether the five-gaited or the three- 
gaited horse, whether the horse that racks or the horse 



THE PIVB-GAITED SADDLE HORSE. 223 

that walk-trots, the aim has been to get an animal with 
inherited inclinations to carry weight under the saddle 
with a sense of responsibility. 

"It is interesting to note that not only in the cornbelt 
(where saddle horses are not so common as in the south- 
ern states) but also in the range countries where day-in 
and day-out saddle work taxes the riders, there is a desire 
to learn of the nicer points of horseback riding, the re- 
finements of equitation. These are more readily taught 
in the riding school than through the printed page, and 
yet they must be taught in some way. Inquiries fre- 
quently come for information as to how to use a saddle 
horse that has been educated after the southern methods, 
or in other words how to get a horse to go the gaits 
to which he has been trained. We have had occasion to 
try to enlighten readers on the subject, but recurrence 
to it again seems necessary. In a recent issue we en- 
deavored to describe the gaits of a trained saddle horse, 
and the subject will stand yet further elucidation, to- 
gether with some practical suggestions on changing the 
gaits under saddle. A horse that 'gangs his ain gait' can 
hardly be called a satisfactory saddler. No horseman 
should rest content until he has taught his mount to 
change his gait at a given signal, so that he may com- 
mand any pace at will. 

"First, let us get the names of the gaits straight before 
we straighten out the gaits themselves. It must be ad- 
mitted that the term 'single-foot' aptly describes the 
'four-beat' gait, or that action in a horse in which each 
foot has a separate fall on the ground; but 'the powers 
that be' — the men who breed and train hoi-ses, and who 
conduct the American Saddle Horse Breeders' Association 
— years ago abandoned the use of that term and substi- 
tuted the word rack. This is not so pretty a name, but it 
is shorter, it is correct, and it has the greatest weight of 
authority for its use. The single-foot and the rack are 
one and the same gait, but it is better to use the word 
rack in describing it. 

"The word 'lope' is a contraction of gallop. There are 
three words used to describe this action according to its 
speed. When a horse is fully extended going fast it is 
called a run; when he is going at moderate speed it is 
called a gallop, and when the similar movement is exe- 
cuted slowly it is called a canter. Yet another distinction 
may be introduced, and that is a hand-gallop. This comes 
between a canter and a gallop, but it is more nearly like 
a canter. But there is much more of a difference in these 



224 THE HORSE BOOK. 



movements than mere speed. The gallop and run are 
natural gaits; the hand-gallop and canter are cultivated 
gaits. The two first-named are rough to ride, the other 
two are pleasant. The cultivated canter is not only the 
slowest movement of this action, but it is performed with 
more restraint; the horse works more on his haunches; 
his hind legs are better under him; he bounds up in front 
lightly and drops to the ground in the same manner, sus- 
taining his weight on his hind legs and haunches instead 
of letting it come down 'ker-plunk,' as in the gallop or run. 
The canter is done on the curb, and the horse arches his 
neck and sets his head a little lower than in trot or rack, 
but the educated horse does not take hold hard in a can- 
ter. The slower this gait is performed, when done with 
promptness, animation and exactness, the better. Hence 
the Kentucky expression: 'He can canter all day in the 
shade of an apple tree.' But it should not be a lazy, list- 
less, loose gait. The fore feet should rise from the ground 
almost simultaneously and the hind feet likewise. The 
'three-foot' canter — or a canter in front and a rack or 
'jiggle' behind, — is not desirable; it is a mixed gait. The 
horse that seems fairly aching to run and yet restrains his 
spirits at the will of the rider and canters lightly on the 
curb at about five miles an hour is doing the proper caper. 
This is the educated saddle gait. A gallop is faster, unedu- 
cated and far less pleasant to ride. When a horse can 
canter the rider should have more pride in the gait than to 
call it a 'lope.' 

"All saddle horses educated in the South are broken prac- 
tically alike. That is, they have been taught the same sig- 
nals for changing gaits. When trainers themselves have 
not been educated, but are of the rough 'home-spun' kind, 
there is no such uniformity of signals. If your horse has 
been educated by a competent trainer, let us ride out to- 
gether and see what can be done with him. We will start 
on the walk; that is the foundation of all sadde gaits. If 
riding with a double-rein bridle, with curb and snaffle bits, 
take him on the snaffle lightly. By word or touch of whip 
or crop, or by touch of spur if necessary, urge him to the 
top of his speed at the flat-foot walk. Keep him up to the 
mark. There is a time to lay the reins loosely on his neck 
and loaf, but not now. Hold him steadily at the flat-foot 
walk, and if he is a good walker he will carry you four 
miles an hour; if he takes you five miles in that time you 
have as good a walker as any man possesses. 

"Now we will go from the walk to the running-walk or 
slow-pace— the slow 'jiggle.' These are easier gaits than 



THE FIVE-GAITED SADDLE HORSE. 225 

the walk and faster. They are right on the edge of a 'four 
beat' gait. That is, you can hear each foot-fall distinctly. 
Loosen your snaffle reins and take hold lightly of the curb 
and give him a touch of the spur, urging him just out of a 
walk. These are gaits a little faster than a walk and not 
so fast as a rack. They are what are called slow gaits. 
Cleanly performed they are delightful to ride; they are all- 
day gaits. The real old-fashioned plantation running-walker 
is a 'nodder;' he keeps time to his paces by the nodding of 
his head, just as a mule does by the flop of his ears. This 
gait is literally named. It is an accelerated walk — a run- 
ning walk, not a flat-foot 'heel and toe' walk. The slow- 
pace is not the side-wheel gait of the harness horse; there 
is too much roll to that. It is a similar gait, but instead of 
both feet on one side of the body striking the ground at 
exactly the same instant, there is just enough break in the 
impact to introduce a short interval and rob the gait of the 
unpleasant roll of the side-wheeler. The fox-trot is the 
other slow gait. It is a dog-trot, a slow and rather loose- 
jointed trot, a 'shog.' Whichever gait the horse strikes 
when pushed out of a walk hold him to it. Do not let him 
forge ahead into a rack or a trot, or fall back into a walk. 
"Now that your horse has shown that he can go along 
nicely in the slow-pace we will rack down that smooth road 
ahead which is not too soft on its surface — for the rack is 
rather a hard gait on a horse and the going can easily be 
too soft for him. You have him on the curb; increase the 
pressure a little, give him the leg — that is, grip him with 
your knees so that he will feel the clasp — and give him the 
spur. A horse is taught to rack by spurring him forward 
and curbing him back; he then flies into what may be 
called a 'condensed trot' — which is a good description of the 
rack. A racking horse must go up against the curb, and 
above all things he must not be allowed to fall into the 
swinging side-wheel pace. If he falters touch him with 
the spur and lift hipi gently on the bit to steady him. Do 
not gouge him or rip him. Spurs should be used thus for 
punishment only in the most extreme necessity. A willing 
horse will soon learn to respond instantly, when he feels 
the heel move backward to his flank, even before he is 
touched with the steel. 

"Let us now drop out of the rack. Release the curb reins, 
teach him to slow down at the word 'steady,' and come 
down easily — generally through a running-walk — into the 
walk. We now want to stir up our livers a bit, and hence 
will trot over that stretch of road ahead of us. Of course 
we could have gone into the trot from that fast rack that 
15 



226 THE HORSE BOOK. 



we were riding; tliat is, some laorses could have done it, 
but thie ordinary rider will do well to go at each gait from 
the flat-foot walk, except when stealing into the rack from 
the slow-pace. Our horses have had a brief breathing spell 
and are ready for the trot. 

"Take your horse on the snaffle entirely; do not lug on 
both curb and snaffle, as so many do who try to ride with 
double rein but have never learned how. 'Cluck' to him, 
and as he prepares to start off begin to post — that is, rise 
in the saddle. If your horse is 'on an edge' in his gaits he 
will trot. Sometimes he will make a mistake and start out 
on a 'jiggle.' Bring him immediately to a walk and try 
again. As you give him the word this time reach forward 
and with your right hand grasp him by the mane well up 
on the neck. If he does not trot then he has forgotten his 
early lessons and needs to be worked with. Some trainers 
give the signal to trot by pulling an ear; this is anything 
but sightly. It is bad enough to have to pull the mane, 
but to twist and pull at the ear in the attempt to start a 
horse on a trot is a trick that ought never to be taught. 
The thoroughly broken horse should trot when he is taken 
on the snaffle and touched on the neck with hand or crop. 
This is getting down to a fine point, but that is just where 
it ought to be. 

"If you were riding with single curb-rein bridle you 
would probably have to take hold of the mane and hold it 
for a few seconds while you begin to post. The user of the 
double-rein has the advantage; his signal to trot can scarce- 
ly be noticed. This is desirable, as the less fuss and flurry 
in changing gaits the better. When your horse strikes a 
square trot hold him on the snaffle and make him work up 
to it. Do not let him sprawl along in an extended trot, as 
in harness. Keep him in hand; keep his legs working un- 
der him, and post just as little as need be to catch the mo- 
tion of the horse. Do not rise so high in the saddle at every 
step that a man could throw a yellow dog by the tail under 
you. 

"Well, is your liver sufficiently agitated for this time? 
Let us slow down then and walk a bit. We may even loaf 
a while and let the horses take care of themselves, but it 
is well not to fall into the habit of it, as the horse will 
quickly learn to want his own way in everything. And now 
for the canter, the most graceful and enjoyable gait when 
perfectly performed. Take your horse in hand. Let him 
know that the loaflng time is ended. Pull him together un- 
til his legs are under him; balance him, and take him on 
the curb lightly, lean forward a bit, and salute him with 



HUNTERS, HACKS, POLO PONIES. 227 

the right hand. That is, raise your right hand so that he 
may see it. If he does not 'catch on,' snap your fingers. A 
well broken horse will at once bound into a canter. An 
educated saddler rarely forgets this signal. 

"We have set forth the code of signals in ordinary use by 
southern trainers of saddle horses. Of course there are 
variations. All horses will not respond to all of these 
signals. A horse has some individuality and a mind of its 
own as well as a man. In that event something else that he 
does comprehend readily is tried. But by all means teach 
your horse to change his gaits at your will and not his." 

THREE-aAITED SADDLE HORSES, 
HUNTERS, HACKS. POLO PONIES. 

Walk, trot and canter are the three gaits in 
che ordinary variety of saddle horse. All horses 
go these gaits naturally, but it is a great mis- 
take to suppose that any horse which is broken 
to ride is a "plain-gaited" saddler. Far from 
it ; the three-gaited riding horse has his qualifi- 
cations as unmistakably as the park horse. 
These qualifications are briefly summed up as 
follows : He must be " a horse in front of you, ' ' 
which means that he must have sloping shoul- 
ders and a long well poised neck; he must be 
short and strong in his back, powerful in his 
quarters; he must be light in his forehand, 
and he must stand higher in front than behind. 
If he is made after this fashion there will be a 
resiliency of motion to his progress which 
makes for the comfort of the rider and the en- 
durance of the horse. Straight shoulders, short 
necks and hea\0" heads are very objectionable. 
Proper mouthing and mannering are as essen- 
tial in the three-gaited as in the five-gaited sad- 
dler. 

It does not make much difference how this 



228 THE HORSE BOOK. 

sort of a saddle horse, if 'to be used for ordinary 
pleasure riding, is bred, but of course the more 
good blood he has in his veins the longer will 
he last, the faster will he get over the ground 
and the more agreeable mount will he prove in 
general. 

Conspicuous in this group of riding horses is 
the hunter, but as no great place exists for him 
in our western equine economy much space need 
not be devoted to him. The job of the hunter is 
to carry a human being safely over the coun- 
try, galloping fast, jumping fences and water as 
he comes to them and staying over a distance of 
many miles. There are only a few districts in 
the United States where hunting is possible, 
only a few packs of foxhounds and consequently 
the home demand for hunters is quite circum- 
scribed. Buyers for export to England keep 
an eye out for horses of the right stamp for 
this business at leading American markets and 
many a good western-bred animal has followed 
the hounds on the other side in recent years. 

Usually hunters are the get of Thoroughbred 
stallions, though not always, but whenever the 
sire is not clean Thoroughbred he is very near- 
ly so. The blood is required to grant the neces- 
sary speed and stamina. The type is well por- 
trayed in the illustration— wiry, powerful and 
of the "varmint" order. Hunting is a harder 
business than racing. The negotiation of such 
obstacles as board fences, hedges, stone walls, 
high banks with or without deep, wide ditches 
on one side or other of them, and wide stretches 
of water, continually recurring in runs of all 



HUNTERS, HACKS, POLO PONIES. 229 

distances up tO' perhaps fifteen or twenty miles, 
requires a high order of intelligence, stamina 
and much education. It is small wonder then 
that high-class hunting horses bring very long 
prices. 

Hunters are of two classes — light and heavy- 
weight carriers, the dividing line being fixed at 
about 160 pounds. This is to say that a horse 
capable of doing well over a country carrying 
a man weighing less than 160 pounds is called 
a light-weight hunter, and one that can carry 
more, a heavy-weight hunter. Of course the 
more weight a horse can pack away in the sad- 
dle, go fast and stand up under, the more valua- 
ble he is. 

The hack is merely a pleasant riding horse, 
good looking along the lines already described 
and able to get over the ground at a lively pace. 

The polo pony commands high prices. He 
must stand 14.2 hands or under and he must 
have speed, great intelligence and an aptitude 
for dodging, swerving and wheeling around on 
a dead run. The game of polo, in which he is 
used, is a most exciting sport. It is played with 
four men on a side, each armed with a long- 
handled mallet, and the object is to drive a 
wooden ball between goal posts. It is essen- 
tially a rich man's game, and long prices are 
paid for ponies of the requisite size, speed, 
courage and adroitness of motion. Some of 
the best polo ponies in -the world are bred on 
American ranches. The very best are got by 
Thoroughbred stallions and reared under suit- 
able conditions of treatment and care. Often, 



230 THE HORSE BOOK. 

too, COW ponies of the ordinary variety make 
excellent polo mounts. The illustration shows a 
team mounted on such ponies bred in Colorado. 
The training and general aptitude for the game 
are more essential to the receipt of large prices 
than good looks, though all things being equal 
the best looking sell for the most money. A 
small but lucrative business is done by a few 
dealers in picking up suitable ponies on the 
range, breaking and mannering them, and then 
offering them as the finished article. The polo 
pony, however, is a negligible quantity so far 
as the farmer is concerned. 

SHETLAND, WELSH AND OTHER 
PONIES. 

Almost every country has its types of ponies. 
Their name is legion. Some of these may be 
dignified by the names of breeds and indeed a 
few of -them possess distinguishing character- 
istics which some authorities claim entitle them 
to distinction as separate species of the horse. 
Prof. Cossar Ewart has of late years made some 
extended investigations which lead him to dig- 
nify certain of the Scotch types as distinct 
varieties if not species. The Celtic pony is one 
of them. These facts are mentioned as bearing 
on whether all ponies are degenerate horses or 
whether some of them at least have always been 
as small as they are now. It would serve no 
good purpose to enter into the arguments which 
have been advanced on this subject. It will 
suffice to say that Prof. Ewart 's investigations 
point quite conclusively to diminutive size be- 



SHETLAND AND WELSH PONIES. 231 

ing m some instances at least a varietal if not 
a specific characteristic. 

Britain lias many, and all northern Europe 
is studded with different breeds and types. Asia 
possesses many distinct sorts and even South 
Africa has its peculiar variety. In Canada and 
the United States the various pony strains, 
such as the Chincoteague and Sable Island, can 
not be classed as breeds, though distinguishing 
homologous character is becoming more 
marked. These American strains are surely 
degenerate horse reduced in size and altered 
in conformation to suit their environment. 

Best known of all the breeds of ponies in the 
United States is the Shetland. This breed is 
indigenous to the Shetland Isles, lying off the 
extreme north coast of Scotland and distant not 
much over 350 miles from the Arctic circle. 
How long these ponies have existed on those 
islands history does not record, nor yet tradi- 
tion, but we have authoritative statement that 
they were there in their present size, or smaller, 
in 1700. Reared under constant hardships im- 
posed by nature in her most unrelenting mood, 
the breed from the time it was first written 
about has been famous for its utility, strength 
and endurance. Its original use was for riding, 
packing and work in coal pits, where its small 
stature and phenomenal strength enabled it to 
thread the low galleries and drag great weight 
of coal to the shaft. 

Extremely docile in temperament, the Shet- 
land was early transplanted to the richer en- 



232 THE HORSE BOOK. 

vironment of the mainland of Scotland and 
England, In addition to its more menial duties 
a use was soon found for the Shetland as the 
pet and plaything of children, and in later years 
this has become almost wholly the sphere of its 
activities. Importation of Shetlands to this 
country began in the middle of the last cen- 
tury and on the kindly soil of many states it 
has taken root and flourished amazingly. Natu- 
rally on the rich lands of ,the cornbelt there has 
been some trouble experienced to keep it from 
growing too large, but the breeders by selection 
and the wise regulations of the stud book have 
kept the size down most acceptably. Shetland 
loonies over 11.2 hands or 46 inches high can 
not be registered as pure-bred. 

Hap-hazard matings in this country have not 
done the breed any good. In an effort also to 
keep the size down some breeders have made 
use of ultra-diminutive stallions irrespective of 
their individuality, with the result that too 
often we find them ''sheepy" in conformation 
and lacking in style, finish and action. On the 
other hand some breeders have demonstrated 
conclusively that even on the richest soil Shet- 
lands may be bred quite small enough and at 
the same time little aristocrats from nose to 
heels. Thick, rotund bodies, neat heads, well- 
risen crests and short legs neither bucked in the 
knees nor set in the hocks are points after which 
the best breeders strive. The more action both 
of knee and hock the better, but it is hard to get. 
At that the market for Shetlands has of late 



SHETLAND AND WELSH PONIES. 233 

absorbed all offerings good, bad and indiffer- 
ent. Tlie seal of approval has been set on the 
Sheltie by the American people, his extreme 
docility, picturesque appearance and trust- 
worthiness giving him the best sort of a recom- 
mendation as a child's mount. 

All colors known in horseflesh are 'to be found 
among the Shetlands, gray and roan being by 
far the most scarce. PieUald and skewbald in 
all the various combinations of bay, brown, 
black, chestnut and white are common and so 
are duns, mouse-colors, bays, chestnuts, browns 
and blacks. The ponies of the Faroe Islands 
and Iceland run much to parti-colors and it is 
unquestionable that some of those strains have 
been mixed with the Shetlands both in Scotland 
and in this country, but not of later years. 
These two types differ markedly from the Shet- 
land in conformation, 'that of the latter being 
infinitely preferable. The pony in the frontis- 
piece is the champion of the breed in Scotland ; 
the American champion is the second from the 
end in the group of four. It will be observed 
that there is some slight difference in the type 
favored here and in Caledonia. 

The Welsh pony, the only other pony breed 
for which a stud book exists in this country, is 
of great antiquity — a little larger than the 
Shetland, a little better set up about the head 
and neck and generally a better actor. Many 
of the Welsh ponies have a considerable degree 
of speed, which is perhaps to be accounted for 
in the fact that in a very early day small Nor- 
folk Trotters were crossed into the breed on the 



234 THE HORSE BOOK. 

hills of Wales. Not all Welsh ponies, however, 
show the effects of this cross. The i^revailing 
colors are bay and brown. Efforts have been 
made of late to form a breed of Welsh cobs by 
mating the pony mare with the Hackney and 
some excellent results have followed the work 
of the breeders in both England and Wales. 
The Welsh mountains form about as bleak and 
barren a territory as any in which ponies are 
bred, but the breeders are going forward with 
concerted aim and still further improvement in 
this type is confidently to be expected. 

EANGE HORSES. 

As there were no horses on the American con- 
tinent at the time of its discovery it follows 
that all the so-called wild horses of the plains 
must originally have sprung from Spanish 
stock. The spread of the American wild horse, 
so-called, must have been from the Rio Grande 
northward, and shape, color and size were as- 
sumed according to locality. The cayuse or 
Indian pony may fairly be accepted as the abo- 
riginal type of the horse of the American plains. 
We all know him. A perfect prodigy of en- 
durance in himself he has yielded readily to at- 
tempts at improvement wherever they have 
been made and he is now not nearly so numer- 
ous as he was twenty-five or thirty years ago, 
but we will always have him with us. 

Gradually as settlers crossed the continent 
the range horse grew intO' existence. Individ- 
uality and speed superior to that possessed by 
the cayuse were required when the herds of 



RANGE HORSES. 235 

range cattle began to take on extended propor- 
tions, and each cattle baron strove to breed a 
line of cow ponies that would serve him well 
under any and all circumstances. The necessity 
of the situation developed a strain of hardy, 
fleet ponies, capable of sustaining great effort 
and hardship on scanty rations — the cow pony, 
of no particular breeding as a mass, yet pos- 
sessing stamina second to none. Running at 
will on the open range, the production of these 
ponies was governed by the inexorable law of 
natural selection in so far as their environment 
was concerned. All sort of stallions were 
turned loose on the range, picked up their bands 
of mares and got them with foal. The progeny 
fended for itself, survived or dropped out as 
the case might be, leaving only the best to 
reach maturity. In time the holdings of the 
range breeders became very great and prices 
of both the broken and the unbroken were very 
low compared to what native-bred horses 
brought farther east. The supply was limitless, 
the use practically limited to cowpunching. 

Desultory improvement, attempted with pure- 
bred stallions of the meanest sort, proved that 
it was no great trick to engraft the individual- 
ity of almost any pure-bred sire on the ranger. 
But the price to be obtained for the unbroken 
progeny was so low that most of the rangemen 
bought only stallions for which they had to pay 
trivial prices. It would not pay, they said, to 
put much money into stallions to turn out on 



236 THE HORSE BOOK. 

the range. A few breeders followed a saner 
policy and these have succeeded in making much 
money. Then just about the time some impres- 
sion was being made on the ranger by the use 
of pure-bred stallions, the depression of the 
early nineties hit the business so hard that it 
was impossible to get any sort of a remunera- 
tive price for a range-bred horse. Commission 
men at wholesale centers refused to accejDt con- 
signments as the horses would not realize 
freight and commission charges. Then an en- 
terprising genius established a cannery in Ore- 
gon and thousands of horses were slaughtered 
and made up into salt meat for export. From 
$1 to $2.50 was paid per head and the owners 
thought themselves lucky to get so much. 

Not being worth anything, range horses re- 
ceived no attention at all until Great Britain 
went to work to crush the Boer rebellion in 
South Africa.' Her Britannic Majesty's agents 
scoured the range country from the Rio Grande 
to the Yellowstone, paying what seemed enor- 
mous prices for everything able to carry a sol- 
dier. Times were looking up in the range horse 
business. Owners rounded up their bands and 
sold them off as closely as they could. It was 
a good riddance of bad rubbish. Times im- 
proved. Horses became scarce in the East and 
prices began to climb skyward. Then it was, 
some four or five years back, that the few 
breeders who had kept at the work of improve- 
ment came into their own. Offerings of draft- 
bred range horses were eagerly snapped up by 



RANGE HORSES. 237 

the carload. The attention of the breeders was 
turned to the possibilities of the business. 
Bands were collected and culled. A better class 
of draft and other stallions was purchased and 
more sensible methods of breeding adopted. 

Wherever any persistent effort at improve- 
ment by the draft route had been made a rich 
harvest of profit was reaped. Breeders who 
had piled two, three or four crosses of pure 
draft blood on either a native or a range foun- 
dation received prices not previously dreamed 
'of. It was found that pure-breds could be pro- 
duced on the range and perpetuate their charac- 
teristics with great prepotency. Free grazing 
was oons,tricted. It became a choice of fewer 
and better or get out of the business. The net 
result today is that all draft-bred range horses 
are bringing unprecedented prices, as high as 
$161 having been paid per head for four-year- 
old geldings and mares by the carload of twenty 
head, unbroken, but weighing in grass flesh 
from 1,350 to 1,500 pounds. Unfortunately 
many of the breeders, despite the success which 
they have achieved, are for the most part still 
pursuing the short-sighted policy of using in- 
ferior stallions. A disinclination to pay the 
price for a high-class breeding horse seems in- 
grained in the business, though evidence that 
the best pay the highest dividends is by no 
means wanting. 

In short the range horse breeding business is 
on a most prosperous footing at the present 
time. The extraordinary development of the 



238 THE HORSE BOOK. 

western country — railroad, irrigation, lumber- 
ing and urban construction work — has absorbed 
every available horse of size on the northwest- 
ern range, prices increasing according to the 
weight offered. This has induced breeders to 
take better care of their mares and young 
things and still greater betterment in this di- 
rection must inevitably follow increase in 
values. High-class carriage and driving horses, 
too, are being produced on the range and the 
cow pony flourishes and brings prices double 
and treble those he brought in the good old days 
when the cattle barons trailed their beef herds 
hundreds of miles to a loading point. It does 
not seem that the combeit can soon produce a 
supply of drafters sufficient to its own and the 
needs of the East. It will be a long time before 
the Pacific Coast states can breed a sufficiency. 
The outlook is surely rosy enough to warrant 
the range breeders in making use of much bet- 
ter stallions than they have hitherto purchased. 

THREE FAMOUS STALLIONS. 

In a reminiscent article written for The 
Breeder's Gazette I cited as the three greatest 
celebrities of the Clydesdale, Shire and Per- 
cheron breeds the stallions McQueen, Holland 
Major and Gilbert. This was from a show 
yard point of view exclusively, but in point of 
general usefulness to the Percheron breed Bril- 
liant must be substituted for Gilbert. Holland 
Major and the famous black stallion that made 
so much of Oaklawn's early reputation have 



THEEE FAMOUS STALLIONS. 239 

long ago joined the silent majority, but Mc- 
Queen is still hale and hearty. 

It is unfortunate that good photographs of 
Holland Major and Brilliant are not extant. 
In those rather distant days the art of animal 
portraiture by the camera was not developed as 
it is now, but the picture of Brilliant is of his- 
toric interest, as it is by Rosa Bonheur. The 
photograph of McQueen was taken when he was 
in his twenty-third year. 

Holland Major was the standard for the aged 
Shires in the American show ring for many 
years. All the other importers bore him in 
mind when scouring England for a horse that 
could win. He was a Shire of much quality and 
well nigh perfect in conformation with the ex- 
ception of his rather effeminate neck and head. 
George E. Birown who owned him never gave 
him a chance in the stud until death mercifully 
removed the brown stallion Elcho, to which Mr. 
Brown junned his faith for many years. When 
he did get his chance in the stud Holland Major 
made good. His progeny was not, however, 
numerous and his services to the breed must be 
chronicled as having consisted more in his ex- 
traordinary show yard career than in his great- 
ness as a sire. He was foaled in 1882 and won 
the championship at the Columbian in 1893— 
his crowning triumph on the tan-bark. 

Brilliant belonged to a somewhat earlier era, 



240 THE HORSE BOOK. 

having been foaled in 1876. He was imported 
in 1881, and it may truthfully be said of him 
that he founded a family in the Percheron 
breed the like of which the histoiy of no other 
draft strain records. His sons and his grand- 
sons topped their classes with striking uni- 
formity and his blood has been doubled and 
twisted ujDon itself in the most extraordinary 
mixture of in-breeding and line-breeding that 
has no parallel in draft horse breeding. He 
was never a great horse individually— even 
Rosa Bonheur's picture does not show him to 
have been that— but he bred extraordinarily 
well. Not only did his sons become celebrated 
in the stud, but his mares did likewise, and I am 
sure there are many horsemen who will agree 
with me when I say that his daughters were 
superior as a band to those of any other Per- 
cheron stallion they have ever known, 

McQueen was foaled May 15, 1885, was im- 
ported in 1887 to Canada and to this country 
the same year. His career in the show ring 
extended from that fall to the Columbian, and 
he never met defeat in his class and only once 
in a championship. Premier in the Blairgowrie 
stud, his get were synonyms for youthful 
Clydesdale excellence and they kept coming 
from foalhood to maturity. Blairgowrie had 
only a few mares at the most and McQueen be- 
got comparatively few foals in the United 
States. His percentage of prize winners is, not- 



THKEE FAMOUS STALLIONS. 241 

withstanding, higher than that of any horse I 
know. In 1899 McQueen was returned to Can- 
ada and his career in tlie Cairnbrogie stud 
tliere since then is worthy of notice as showing 
how much money may be made out of a really 
successful getter even at a moderate fee. In the 
season of 1899 he covered 182 mares and got 
94 colts at a fee of $15 to insure. The next 
season his fee was raised to $20 and has re- 
mained in that notch ever since. Since 1900 he 
has never covered less than 200 mares and his 
smallest quota of foals was 123. Here are the 
figures: 1900, mares covered 214, foals 127; 
1901, mares 223, foals 147; 1902, mares 204, 
foals 133; 1903, mares 209, foals 141; 1904, 
mares, 261, foals 172; 1905, mares 217, foals 
123; 1906, mares 208, foals 142— a grand total 
of eight seasons, 1,717 mares covered and 1,078 
foals. As he stood at $15 to insure in 1899 he 
earned $1,410 that season, and in the seven 
following years he begot 984 foals at $20 each, 
amounting to $19,680— a grand total of $21,090 
for his eight seasons' work. Yerily he merits 
the title I bestowed upon him— ''The Matchless 
McQueen." 

These figures are of much value as showing 
that an old horse may be capable of doing ex- 
tensive and excellent work in the stud and that 
a really good getter is a gold mine. 



16 



PART III. 

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 

In the first part of this book I have endeav- 
ored to point out that certain things must be 
done with horses in order to keep them in 
health. In this chapter I have no intention of 
specifically invading the domain of the veteri- 
narian. It would be easy enough to explain 
didactically the methods of treatment which 
should be employed in stated diseases if one 
could but be sure that every case would devel- 
op alike, and the advice would be valuable if 
every reader was an accurate diagnostician. It 
is hopeless, however, to anticipate such an ideal 
condition and hence I make no effort to pre- 
scribe generally remedies and methods of treat- 
ment. My experience shows me that the best 
thing to do when a horse gets sick is to send 
for some well qualified practitioner and let him 
say what is to be done. There are a few rem- 
edies of standard merit which may be used 
without any danger and to much advantage— 
remedies which I have proved to be satisfac- 
tory—and the formulas for them are detailed in 
their proper places. 

A horse is a robust animal, easy to keep in 
health by the exercise of ordinary common 

242 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 243 

sense. Epizootic and infectious diseases will 
invade stables despite all efforts to keep tliem 
out and most colts have a siege of strangles, 
which is the correct name for the malady gen- 
erally known as distemper. It is indubitably 
owing to the outdoor life he leads that the horse 
is practically immune from tuberculosis. He is 
forced in working to be outside and to breathe 
deep the free air of heaven. The exercise he 
is made to take in the harness also keeps his 
digestive apparatus working nicely, so long as 
he is not over or underfed, so long as his food 
is wholesome and is not suddenly changed. 
Highly organized, the horse resists the ravages 
of disease in a remarkable manner, and the 
characteristic action of drugs is readily ob- 
tained upon him. At that he is a complicated 
subject. It takes a long time to learn about his 
structure and it is admitted that accurate diag- 
nosis in diseases of the horse is harder to make 
than it is in the human subject. 

As an all too frequent rule too much med- 
icine is given to horses. Some veterinarians 
seem to have nothing short of a mania for or- 
dering large doses of various combinations of 
drugs given often. Nature should be given a 
chance. The drug of itself is worth nothing 
except that it gives the system a chance to work 
out its own salvation. Farmer-breeders also 
have a craze, it seems, for feeding condition 
powderSy stock-foods and other compounds to 



244 THE HORSE BOOK. 

their horses indiscrimiuately, irrespective of 
whether the animals are doing well or the re- 
verse. If a horse is out of condition or sick 
the remedies administered should be those 
which have been proved to be curative under 
similar circumstances. This "doping" a horse 
with a lot of different drugs, whether in the 
form of a stock-food, condition powder or any- 
thing else, is all wrong. A shotgun prescrip- 
tion never yet effected a cure. I am not much 
of a believer in proprietary "dope" anyway. 
A few of these proprietary remedies are of 
standard and meritorious efficacy, but many of 
them are worthless. I suggest that those who 
desire to discover much about the composition 
of patent remedies, designed for the human as 
well as the equine subject, purchase the book, 
"Secret Nostrums and Systems," by the late 
Dr. Charles Oleson. Dr. Oleson was a friend of 
mine and to my certain knowledge devoted a 
great deal of time and care to collecting the 
data presented in his most interesting work. 

Among farm anim^als the horse is the only 
one which is immune from tuberculosis, and 
the manner of his life is conceded to be that 
which grants him his immunity. He is out al- 
most always by day and often at night. Pigs 
and cattle are too often closely confined in- 
doors. Sheep, which suffer little from tuber- 
culosis, are also animals which live outdoors. 
The lesson of this is that all stables in which 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 245 

farm animals— not merely horses alone— are 
housed should be amply ventilated, with ade- 
quate provision for the egress of the foul air 
and the ingress of the fresh air from outdoors. 
I can well remember in my early days in the 
West when stables were shells and the blizzards 
fierce. The horses which lived and grew old 
in those miserable sheds throve and worked 
and were healthier than their pampered rel- 
atives of today, which are kept in barns which 
are palaces in comparison to those old prairie 
shacks. Horses will stand a great degree of 
cold without injury. 

Provide free ventilation, shutting off draughts 
of course. Eather let the bam be cold and 
freely ventilated, sO' that the supply of pure 
air is constant, and use blankets on the horses, 
than coop them up in close premises where the 
air that has been breathed once must be 
breathed over and over again. Systems of ven- 
tilation for stock stables of all kinds have been 
brought to the point of perfection. No farmer 
has longer an excuse for keeping his animals in 
foul quarters. On the whole I do not favor 
underground or bank stables for horses. I 
would rather have them up on the level. Bank 
barns are usually dark and damp. Stmlight 
and oft-changed air are the great destroyers 
of filth germs. It has been stated before in a 
previous chapter, but it will bear repetition: 
stable litter, outside of the dirt of the city 



246 THE HORSE BOOK. 

street, is the most prolific of noxious germ life 
of all known substances. In damjj, dark, dirty 
stables germ life multiplies at a rate altogether 
incomprehensible to the. average human mind. 
Let in the air and sunlight. Those are the best 
disinfectants. It should hardly be necessary 
to enjoin on all horse keepers the absolute neces- 
sity of cleansing the stalls freely at frequent 
intervals and of keeping a supply of absorbent 
bedding to take up the liquids voided by farm 
animals. Horse manure in summer is the fa- 
vorite breeding place for flies. At all seasons 
of the year, when not in the light it fairly teams 
with noxious microbic life. 

Cleanliness in every department of the stable 
should be insisted on. Mangers should be kept 
clean at all times. Notwithstanding this, it is 
the exception rather than the rule to find them 
so. Corn on the ear is a very general food for 
farm horses. The kernels are bitten off the 
cobs and the latter are left in the feedbox, 
covered with saliva and therefore most fertile 
media for the propagation of germs of all sorts. 
Nevertheless, it is no uncommon sight to see 
farm help shove the cobs out of the box into 
the manger, where they lie and sour and take 
up room until they get to be troublesome when 
they are thrown down into the stall and finally 
find their way into the manure pile. Slovenly 
methods of this variety should have no place in 
the management of an up-to-date stable on the 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 247 

farm or anywhere else. Take the cobs out at 
each feed and burn them. They make good in 
the cook-stove or heater. Similarly stems and 
trash should always be cleaned out of the hay 
rack. A horse noses over his roughage quite 
a good bit. What he leaves should be taken 
away from his head at least. Mashes fed in the 
feedbox leave a lot of dampness behind them 
and as a consequence the box gets sour, which 
is equivalent to saying that germs are prop- 
agating apace. Iron mangers are the best, but 
expensive. If the feedboxes are of wood, feed 
mashes in galvanized iron buckets. Keep the 
feedboxes dry and let the sunlight get to them 
if possible, any way much light. 

Pine makes most unsatisfactory stable fit- 
tings. Beech wood, owing to its close and 
cranky grain, is by far the best when it is avail- 
able. Horses love to gnaw pine, and once they 
get into the habit, no matter what is originally 
the cause, they are hard to stop. Usually, how- 
ever, horses get to chewing mangers and board 
fences because they are not salted or fed 
enough. This is not always true, but it most 
generally is. Often, too, horses undergoing the 
troubles of dentition will seek surcease from 
troubling in gnawing wood. The beech wood 
fittings, stripped with strap iron, or better still 
iron fittings, are the best remedy, though after 
all most wooden stalls get chewed more or less 
with the lapse of time and many changes of 
tenants. 



248 THE HOESE BOOK. 

I do not like concrete floors for horses to 
stand on. Concrete is cold and absorbs heat 
quickly. A floor of the kind makes what the 
Scotch call "cold lying" for any animal. The 
best floor for standing stalls is made of con- 
crete with a portable floor of narrow slats 
nailed to cross-pieces of about an inch in tliick- 
ness. This sort of a floor, plentifully, bedded, 
permits the liquids voided to pass readily away. 
The concrete floor should of course have some 
slight slope on this account, but never much. 
A horse likes to stand with his head uphill a 
little bit. In boxstalls the best floor is hard 
clay— clay that will make good bricks. Lay 
a foundation of coarse gravel and then tamp 
down four to six inches of clay. Nothing is 
much more abominable in a stable than a floor 
of rotten old planlvs half-worn through and the 
decomposing ' urine oozing upward whenever 
the horse steps around. No amount of good 
bedding can counteract the hurtful effect of 
such filth. 

Recurring again to the necessity of having 
stables well ventilated and well lighted, let the 
windows be large and many. Never under any 
circumstances place a little cubby -aperture 
directly in front of each horse's head. Thou- 
sands of bams have been spoiled and thousands 
of horses have been ruined by this senseless, 
though fortunately now obsolete method of ven- 
tilating and lighting a stable. Make the doors 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 249 

plenty large enough and have screens for both 
doors and windows for use in summer. Keep 
the grain in a feed room and make incessant 
war to the death on rats and mice. Likewise 
keei> chickens away from the horse stable. 
Chicken lice appear to thrive and multiply 
amazingly on horses and the annoyance they 
cause and the flesh they destroy are in propor- 
tion. Show me a farm where the fowls and the 
horses young and old hob-nob continually and 
I will show you a lousy lot of stock. This is 
perhaps a homely and inconsequential point in 
the estimation of some folks, but it pays well 
to keep stock of all kinds free from parasites. 
In a previous chapter the necessity of feed- 
ing clean grain and roughage to horses has been 
emphasized. To this end an oats cleaner should 
be installed and every pound of the grain fed 
should pass through that most useful contriv- 
ance. Oats may look to even the practiced ob- 
server to be nice and clean and free from the 
contamination of seeds that are worthless for 
feed, and trash of various sorts, but the same 
practiced observer will often be astounded, 
when a bushel of the grain has been run through 
the cleaner, to see the great heap of hurtful mat- 
ter that has been eliminated. The awns of the 
oats, bits of straw, fragments of binding twine, 
leaves of weeds and a multiplicity of weed seeds 
will show up in far greater volume than was 
anticipated. These by-products of the oat bar- 



250 THE HORSE BOOK. 

vest may advantageously be burned. If they 
are fed to the horse the trash will reduce the 
feeding value of his ration and the seeds will 
go through him whole, to be carted off with the 
manure, scattered on the ground and in time 
reproduce their kind. Good clean oats, as has 
been stated before, contains about 18 pounds of 
husk and 14 iDOunds of kernel to the measured 
bushel, supposing that the same weighs 32 
pounds. If there is a lot of other innutritions 
matter in the feed, the proportion of nutriment 
to the whole amount fed is reduced in just that 
proportion. 

Every season there is more or less immature 
or soft corn on every farm— some years more, 
some years less. There never was a year yet 
when the frost did not get somebody's corn 
l^atch. This immature corn is of course left 
on the stalks as long as possible and then 
the freeze-up comes and the ears look hard 
enough. Husking is done and the corn goes 
into the crib. By and by the heating process 
takes place and the corn becomes moldy. Per- 
haps continued cold may keep the ears looking 
well enough, but the mold is there just the same 
and its germs spring into life as soon as the 
damaged grain reaches the equine stomach. If 
there is one thing that is worse than another 
for horses in the way of feed it is moldy grain. 
It should never be fed to them. If it is Hob- 
son's choice— soft corn or go without— then 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 251 

my advice is to spend money for good horse- 
feed. It will pay. Tine, thousands of horses 
have eaten moldy, half-rotten com and got 
away with it all right, but enough have been 
killed by such alimentation to have bought good 
feed for them and all the rest and left a hand- 
some balance on the credit side of the general 
ledger. Oats that have heated in the stack and 
have sweated out quite dry and free from dust 
—which is a rare combination, by the way— 
may be fed with little fear of evil results. When 
they are dusty they are to be avoided, though 
oats that have not been properly matured or 
cured are not nearly as hurtful as moldy soft 
corn. It is not always possible for the farmer 
to feed just exactly what is best, but the point 
to be emphasized is that whenever such a thing 
is possible only the cleanest and best grain 
should be fed to horses. 

Immense bams in which great quantities of 
grain and hay are stored and many animals 
housed are not the most advantageous. The 
risk of total destruction by fire is too great. 
On well regulated breeding farms, where the 
stallions are worth many thousands of dollars, 
you never find them stabled in a large struc- 
ture. It costs more, of course, but a small 
stable for the work horses is infinitely prefer- 
able to any part of a huge structure that looks 
fine from the road and is liable with its con- 
tents to go up in smoke any time some old 



252 THE HORSE BOOK. 

trami> comes along. It never was good policy 
to put the whole batch of eggs in one basket. 
Horses are proverbially chuckle-headed in a 
fire. I have in mind a splendid big barn that 
was the pride of a great farm and was con- 
structed in accordance with the plans of a 
noted builder. An immense amount of hay and 
grain was stored in its capacious loft and in 
the boxstalls on the ground-level many mares 
and foals were quartered. It went afire— how 
no one ever knew— and life was risked to get 
out the animals. The men who liberated the 
first four mares and foals neglected to close 
the doors after them. Three mares and four 
foals dashed back into the blazing structure 
and were cremated. 

On the ruins of this palatial barn arose one 
still grander in its proportions and equip- 
ment. The' insurance companies, which made 
good many thousands of dollars for the build- 
ing burned, were consulted absolutely as to the 
plans. A handsomer structure than the new 
bam there was not in one of the most populous 
and best farmed counties in a great state, yet 
it burned to the ground in a short time after 
it was put into commission. Had- the same 
amount of money been utilized to construct 
several smaller stables the loss could have been 
confined to one of them. Besides it is easier 
to provide for the thorough lighting and ven- 
tilation of small stables than it is for large 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 253 

ones. In every instance, wherever it is possi- 
ble, light a stable at night by electricity. With 
the spread of the inter-urban railway it is in 
many places possible now to obtain the service 
of the electric current at small cost. 

A manure heap at the door of a stable is an 
abomination. Experiments have proved that it 
is most profitable from a fertilizing point of 
view to haul manure to the field and s^oread it 
as soon after it is made as it can be accom- 
plished, but whether that is done or not, get 
the litter far away from the stable. With a 
great festering manurial sore right at the very 
door of their dwelling horses cannot be expect- 
ed to be and remain as healthy as they would 
be with the stenches and flies and microbic life 
such dumps breed removed far from them. 
Keep the footing in front of the stable well 
graveled, dry and free from accumulations of 
every sort. 

In a previous chapter the rearing and feed- 
ing of young horses and the care of brood 
mares have been gone into at length. Such stock 
needs dry quarters and to be kept out of the 
mud. Therefore it is the poorest sort of pol- 
icy to let horses plow through muddy fields of 
cornstalks. Keep them in the dry. If it be 
necessary to use cornstalks as roughage, either 
feed the stalks whole on dry footing and spread 
over a large area or have them shredded and 
feed in racks. Horses can stand almost any 



254 THE HORSE BOOK. 

degree of cold, but they do not thrive in the 
rain. Give them good shelter always. Close 
confinement is bad for any horse, more espe- 
cially in his younger days. If he is kept up 
closely his feet will grow awry somehow, un- 
due strain will be put on some part or other 
and unsoundness will develop as the inevitable 
result. 

Tracing the life history of the horse from 
foalhood to maturity we find that the first thing- 
he is likely to encounter is .joint disease (om- 
phalo phlebitis) due to germ infection at the 
navel. Usual symptoms of this dread malady 
are droopiness, listlessness and swelling of the 
joints. Protrusion of the intestines in the re- 
gion of the navel (umbilical hernia) is also com- 
mon, the apparent swelling being soft and capa- 
ble of reduction by gentle manipulation with 
the fingers," forcing the intestines back into 
their proper place. In both of these cases the 
services of a veterinarian should be requisi- 
tioned as quickly as possible. Joint disease 
is greatly to be feared and for that reason a 
condition of the utmost cleanliness should be 
provided when a mare foals. 

As a yearling strangles is about the next thing 
a colt will encounter. Like children and mea- 
sles, few colts get away without a spell of this 
trouble. This is a disease which is contagious 
and which runs a well defined course, as a gen- 
eral thing, and usually a benign one. It is a 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 255 

peculiar disease. Sometimes it will break out, 
seemingly sporadically, on one farm, attack the 
young horses on it and die out without farther 
invasion of neighboring properties. At other 
times it will take a whole countryside at a 
sweep. When a colt is coming down with 
strangles, he coughs huskily, his throat is sore, 
and he has some difficulty in swallowing. He 
sticks his head out and sometimes there is con- 
siderable fever and sometimes very little. Some- 
times the afflicted animal will keep on eating 
and sometimes he will refuse all food. Later 
there comes a swelling between the jaws which 
in time will burst and relief will then follow. 
Irregular strangles exists when abscesses form 
in parts of the body other than between the 
jaws. In such cases there is much danger of 
blood poisoning. In all instances summon the 
practitioner and let him treat each case as its 
needs indicate. As a rule good nursing, keeping 
the patient comfortable, the administration of 
stimulants and coaxing the appetite to the limit 
will do more than medication, though it takes 
the veterinarian usually to say when medicine 
should or should not be given. Purgatives 
should never be administered to colts suffering 
from strangles. 

Worms are often troublesome to both colts 
and horses. Many veterinarians use turpentine 
in two-ounce doses administered in half a pint 
of linseed oil, the horse having been fasted for 



256 THE HORSE BOOK. 

ten or twelve hours or more. Other practition- 
ers insist that there is little virtue in this rem- 
edy. Colts running loose may be given free 
access to a "lick" consisting of equal parts of 
common salt, ground gentian, sulphur and dried 
sulphate of iron. Wild horses which can not be 
dosed may be given a tablespoonful of this mix- 
ture in the feed daily for ten days, then drop it 
off for a similar period and repeat. This rem- 
edy should not be administered to pregnant 
mares. 

At almost any stage of his existence a horse 
is liable to colic. A sudden change of food, 
damaged grain, watering immediately after eat- 
ing and a half-dozen other causes may be as- 
signed for colic, which is of two kinds— flatu- 
lent and spasmodic. There is not a whole lot of 
difference between the two, but in flatulent colic 
the horse will bloat considerably, owing to the 
presence of gas inside him and he will be con- 
tinually in pain. In spasmodic colic the pain is 
recurrent. In both the horse will look round 
at his flanks, paw, lie down, get up again and 
repeat. In his spells of ease the horse with 
spasmodic colic will often apjpear quite com- 
fortable. Both are the result of indigestion 
and complications are frequent. It is said that 
more horses die with colic than with any other 
disease in the entire list of those to which they 
are subject. Hence it is wise always to get the 
veterinarian whenever possible and as promptly 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 257 

as may be. Primarty symptoms of impaction 
and inflammation of the bowels are much the 
same as those of coUc. However, if the services 
of a practitioner are not immediately available 
the following remedy may be administered in 
any case of colic pending his arrival : 

Turpentine one ounce, canabis indica one-half 
ounce, alcohol four ounces, water one pint. 
Shake well and give as one dose. A bottle con- 
taining this mixture may with profit be kept in 
every stable from which the residence of a vet- 
erinarian is far removed. 

Founder (laminitis) has many causes, but a 
primary essential is a deranged condition of 
the digestive organs. The blood stagnates in 
the very tender structures of the front feet and 
sets up acute inflammation. As the structures 
affected are confined within the horny box of the 
hoof, intense pain is caused. There is not much 
use for any lajyman to bother with a newly 
foundered horse. Invoke professional advice, 
but first get the horse down off his feet and into 
some sort of a comfortable recumbent position. 
Time and again I have seen men who should 
have Imown better force foundered horses to 
stand up, when every ounce of pressure on the 
feet meant untold agony and comparative com- 
fort ensued when the animals were forced to lie 
down. Usually under prompt and skillful treat- 
ment the horse may be relieved in a compara- 
tively short time, but in cases that are neglected 

17 



258 THE HORSE BOOK. 

or not treated properly chronic laminitis en- 
sues. In such cases the soles of the feet come 
down and the horse walks on his heels, being 
practically worthless. Eiven this condition is 
not incurable for I have known a horse whose 
soles were very badly down recover under he- 
roic treatment and later go as sound as ever he 
did. It is doubtful if it would pay to go to so 
much trouble and expense with the general run 
of horses suffering from chronic founder. I 
mention this case to show that within my per- 
sonal experience chronic founder has been cured 
and the lowered soles of the feet elevated to 
their normal position. 

Azoturia has become more common of late 
years than it was in the days when horses were 
not as highly fed as they are- now. Cause of 
this malady is continued high feeding of grain 
during suddenly enforced idleness. A horse, 
commonly working hard, may be kept in the 
stable for a couple of days and be given his 
usual ration of grain without any exercise. On 
being hooked up again he will start off blythely, 
but after a short jjart of the road has been cov- 
ered he will come to a standstill, break out in a 
profuse sweat and stagger to a fall. The cause 
of the disease is simply that in idleness the 
eliminatory channels have not been able to re- 
move the waste matter from the system. It 
takes exercise to develop the malady and an in- 
fallible symptom is the dark, almost black, color 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 259 

of the urine. When a horse goes down with this 
trouble, keep him as quiet as possible. Do not 
move him. Get the veterinarian and the first 
thing he will do, if he knows his business, is to 
empty the bladder. Thereafter the treatment 
must be governed by tlie indications of the case 
and is too intricate to be attempted save under 
the guidance of the practitioner. To avoid at- 
tacks of the kind see to it either that horses 
are regularly exercised or that when they must 
be idle their rations of grain are very greatly 
reduced. 

Overheating is commoner in cities than in the 
country. Attacks of this kind are brought on 
by working horses too hard on very hot and 
humid days, but there never was a case of the 
kind known where the horse was not suffering 
from some form of indigestion. It is extraor- 
dinary what degrees of fever may be discov- 
ered in badly overheated horses. I saw a case 
last summer where the temperature ran up to 
110° and of course dissolution supervened 
speedily. . Usual symptoms are that the horse 
will dry up if sweating, lag behind his mate if 
in a team, stagger and go down with a crash, 
the common verdict being ^'sunstroke." It is 
not sunstroke, but exhaustion. The best thing 
to be done is to turn the hose on the horse and 
play the water all over his body. This cools 
off the tissues, the force of the water materially 
aiding this process. In default of the hose get 



260 THE HOESE BOOK. 

cold water to him someliow in great volume. 
When he arrives the veterinarian will adminis- 
ter stimulants. 

Influenza is a malady peculiar to the horse 
and is caused by a specific germ. Its symptoms 
are largely the same as in strangles and com- 
plications quite likely. In this disease the mu- 
cous membranes of the eyelids are quite fre- 
quently enlarged and inflamed, giving rise to 
the name of pinkeye, by which it is frequently 
designated. Get the veterinarian. Pneumonia 
is now attributed to a specific germ and is known 
to run a regular course, favorable termination 
being dependent largely on the degree of re- 
sistance developed by the patient. Usual symp- 
toms are that the horse is dull, will not lie down, 
will not eat and the membranes of the eyelids 
and nostrils are highly colored. The tempera- 
ture rises and if the ear is held to the ribs a 
rough grating sound is heard in the lungs. The 
horse stands with his head poked out in front 
of him and inclined downward. If he holds his 
head up he has not got pneumonia. When these 
symptoms are observed, blanket the horse 
warmly, bandage his legs and summon profes- 
sional assistance. 

Heaves are caused by feeding too much in- 
nutritious, bulky, moldy or otherwise damaged 
food, watering habitually immediately after 
eating and putting to work too soon after meals. 
While heaves affect the breathing of a horse, 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 261 

the tissue of the lung undergoes no material 
change. The active causre seems to be a de- 
ranged condition of the pneumo-gastric nerve. 
Once fairly established heaves are incurable, 
though the condition of the animal may be ma- 
terially improved by feeding oats straw in place 
of hay, and only a little of it, and good bright 
oats, wetting all food, watering before meals, 
never afterwards, and permitting a rest of at 
least an hour after the food is eaten. A little 
flaxseed jelly fed with the oats is also beneficial 
and Fowler's solution of arsenic does more 
good than any other drug that may be admin- 
istered. The use of this remedy should, how- 
ever, be deferred as long as possible, as its ef- 
fect is cumulative and it can not be given con- 
tinuously. An ounce a day is the maximum dose 
which may be given and it should be tapered off 
gradually when it is desired to stop. At that, 
the condition of the horse will not be improved 
when the effects of the drug have worn off. 
There are many so-called heave cures. Some 
will give temporary relief. A permanent cure 
is an impossibility. 

Whistling or roaring is caused by increase in 
size of the laryngeal cartilages and the conse- 
quent diminution of the passage through which 
the air may be expelled from the lungs. The 
only possibility of a cure lies in the removal of 
the distended cartilages by surgical operation— 
laryngectomy— but that is a most unsatisfac- 



262 THE HORSE BOOK. 

tory and uncertain operation at the best. In 
cases of cougli it is always wise to consult the 
veterinarian. The affection may be local and 
it may be a symptom of pnemnonia or some 
other malady. 

A horse 's teeth will frequently require atten- 
tion. The grinding surfaces are prevented from 
coming together by jagged projections and the 
food is not properly masticated and ensali- 
vated. The result is a staring coat and general 
lack of thrift. In such cases the veterinarian 
will file or "float" the teeth into normal con- 
dition and the horse will make proper use of 
his food. 

Periodic ophthalmia or moon-blindness is 
common enough among farm horses. It is first 
observed when the eyelids are seen to droop, 
tears run freely and the horse keeps the eye 
closed as much as possible. The eyeball at first 
has a dull, rather opaque appearance and grad- 
ually becomes covered with a light-colored 
scum. One eye or both may be affected, or the 
trouble may move from one eye to the other. 
If left to itself the eye in the first attacks will 
clear up in ten days or two weeks, but the trou- 
ble will inevitably return sooner or later. There 
is no cure for moon-blindness. When it ap- 
pears put the horse in a darkened stall, cover 
the eyes with wet cloths and obtain expert ad- 
vice. The first treatment will usually serve as 
an example for all the rest, but in the end the 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 263 

horse will go blind in spite of all that may be 
done for him. 

Wounds of greater or less severity are of fre- 
quent occurrence among farm horses. It makes 
a good deal of difference where the wound is 
and how it was made, but there should be no 
great trouble in healing one up if common sense 
is used. A wound of any magnitude should be 
submitted to the attention of a veterinary sur- 
geon. If it is a clean cut he will sew it up after 
cleansing it thoroughly and it will often heal 
without farther trouble or as they say by the 
first intention. Jagged wounds, such as often 
result from contact with barb-wire, need not be 
sewn up, for the partially isolated fragments 
will slough anyway. Deep or punctured wounds, 
caused by snags and the like, are" the hardest 
to heal and almost invariably suppurate and 
discharge pus, healing from the bottom. The 
surgeon will probe such wounds for foreign 
bodies, syringe out the cavity with an anti- 
sei^tic lotion and be governed by future devel- 
opments as to his further treatment. 

In different localities and at different seasons 
of the year wounds take on curious aspects. 
Invasion of germs, development of proud flesh 
and fungous growths cause so many vagaries 
in their history that it is impossible to lay down 
specific directions that will fit all cases. How- 
ever, one thing is certain. The worst that can 
be done to a wound of any sort is to be eternally 



264 THE HOESE BOOK. 

fussing at it with soap and water. That com- 
bination should always be kept away from a 
wound after the first cleansing has been ac- 
complished, and the laceration dressed. If the 
cut or tear is small the daily application of a 
little carbolic lotion (teaspoonful carbolic acid, 
water one quart), or some good coaltar dip as 
directed on the container, will be all that is 
needed. In more severe cases the surgeon on 
the spot, or fully advised of the conditions, 
alone is comiDetent to prescribe intelligently. 

Fistula of the withers is caused by a bruise 
of the tissues of the part named, perhaps by 
the saddle, or^collar, sometimes in mares by the 
bite of the stallion during coition, and indeed in 
any way in which a bruise may be inflicted. 
Sometimes fragments of the processes of the 
backbone are broken off. The result of such a 
bruise is that pus forms deep in the tissues and 
burrows along, forming pipes. Symptoms are 
swelling and intense pain. A fistula is a very 
nasty thing to deal with and no one who does 
not thoroughly understand it should attempt 
to affect a cure himself. 

Spavins, ringbones, sidebones, curbs and 
navicular disease are the commonest unsound- 
nesses of the bony structure of the legs. Spavins 
are bony growths on the inside of the hock and 
low down upon it. This bony growth or exos- 
tosis interferes with the working of the joint 
and the play of the tendons over it. There are 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 265 

many cures advertised to remove the lame- 
ness caused by a spavin and also the bony 
growth, but nothing short of a chisel and a 
mallet will perform that latter feat. Ring- 
bones are likewise bony growths appearing on 
the uj^per and lower pastern bones, more fre- 
quently on the hind extremities than the front- 
Firing and blistering comi)rise the treatment 
most likely to succeed in removing the lameness 
in both cases. Sidebones are ossified lateral 
cartilages in the fore feet. The lateral carti- 
lages spring from the wings of the pedal bone 
and in their normal condition are designed to 
aid in taking up the concussion caused by the 
contact of the foot with the ground. The side- 
bone takes away this aid to resilience and lame- 
ness supervenes after a time. There is not 
much that can be done to cure lameness caused 
by sidebones, but in certain stages of their de- 
velopment the cartilages may be amputated and 
the horse get along veiy comfortably for a 
time. 

Curbs are caused by the pulling apart of the 
fibres of the sheath of the tendon on the hind 
leg right on the back of the hock not far below 
its point. Blistering and friction are the usual 
methods employed to reduce the enlargement 
and cure the lameness consequent on the rup- 
ture of the fibres as described. Navicular dis- 
ease is caused by a roughening of the sesamoid 
bone over which the large tendon plays at the 



266 THE HORSE BOOK. 

back of the coffin or pedal bone. Inflammation 
having been set up within the foot, the surface 
of the sesamoid bone puts forth small projec- 
tions and the tendon playing oyer these, instead 
of over a perfectly plain surface, creates in- 
tense pain and general inflammation of the 
structures within the hoof. There is no cure. 
Relief may only be obtained by the operation 
of neurectomy, which consists in the section of 
the nerve which insures sensation in the part 
of the foot affected. 

Bog spavins have nothing to do with the bone 
at all. They are situated on the inside of the 
hock and take the form of soft puffs. They 
are caused by the undue secretion of synovia 
or joint-oil, which distends the bursa or sao 
where it is stored and so the puff becomes vis- 
ible. Many horses display very large bog spav- 
ins and at moderate work never go lame, while 
at hard work acute lameness frequently ensues. 
There is little to be gained by blistering these 
enlargements, but a skillful veterinary surgeon 
may get rid of both them and the lameness by 
a delicate operation with the firing iron. 
Thoroughpins partake largely of the same na- 
ture as bog spavins. They are distensions ap- 
pearing at the back of the hock, well up toward 
the top of that joint. The fluid may be pressed 
from one side of the joint to the other. They 
seldom give much trouble and are best let alone. 
Splints are bony growths found just below the 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 267 

knee on the inside of the foreleg. They usually 
appear in young horses, seldom cause lameness 
when the horse is not overworked and are ab- 
sorbed before the horse reaches maturity. It 
seldom pays to bother with them, though at 
times they cause lameness. 

Sweeney is caused by the pressure of the 
collar in young horses mostly and results in 
atrophy or wasting away of the muscles of the 
shoulder. It is a tedious process to restore the 
muscular tissues to their normal condition, 
blistering, the insertion of setons and the injec- 
tion of turpentine beneath the skin being 
variously advocated in the treatment of this 
trouble. Collar galls are caused by the bruising 
of the tissues by the collar and if not properly 
attended to result in the fonnation of fibroid 
tumors which must be dissected out before the 
shoulder may be healed over smoothly. Ill- 
fitting collars frequently cause sitfasts to form 
on top of the neck. These are pieces of dead 
skin closely adhering to the tissues beneath and 
must also be dissected out. It pays to have the 
collars fit projDerly. 

Warts are of frequent oc<3urrenoe about the 
muzzle of the horse and sometimes they appear 
on other parts of his body. If the warts are 
broad and flat saturating them with glacial 
acetic acid drop by dro^ daily for a short time 
will cause them to disappear and the application 
of castor oil has the same result in many cases. 



268 THE HORSE BOOK. 

If the warts spring from a small neck they may 
be snipi>ed off with sharp scissors and the spot 
from which they were cut seared to stop the 
bleeding. Or a silk thread may be tied tightly 
around the neck of the wart and in time it will 
slough off. 

Lice and diseases of the skin are best com- 
bated by the application of some good coaltar 
dip diluted according to the instructions of the 
makers. Care should of course be taken to wash 
for lice or dip for parasitic skin disease during 
pleasant weather. 

Sores on the legs of horses are an almost 
sure sign that systemic treatment is required. 
Scratches and cracked heels are no exception 
to this rule. In cases of scratches and cracked 
heels water should never be api:»lied. Keep the 
parts dry at any cost. Apply a little bland 
ointment, wipe it off night and morning and 
thoroughly hand-rub the parts. The friction 
seems to be a necessary part of successful 
treatment. In the meantime the horse's diges- 
tive apparatus must be put in good working 
order. Cases of grease heel are almost hope- 
less and entail in the attempt to effect a cure a 
long continued course of diet which includes no 
grain, systemic treatment and surgical opera- 
tion as well. 

Finally we approach the subject of groom- 
ing and clipping. To a fine-haired horse the 
currycomb is an instrument of torture. Its 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 269 

sharp teeth cause him much pain and irritate 
him greatly. The dirt may be got out of the 
skin with the brush and the currycomb should 
be used to cleanse the brush, not the hide. In 
coarse-coated horses naturally the use of the 
currycomb on the skin is more or less necessary, 
but it should always be used lightly. 

If horses in winter are forced to work so 
hard that they must sweat freely and must 
reach their stalls wet and uncomfortable, they 
should be clipped and kept clipped all winter. 
A horse with a long winter coat thoroughly sat- 
urated with sweat will take from four to six 
hours to dry out, the heat contained in his grain 
ration being thus diverted from its proper uses. 
On the other hand if he is clipped, rubbed off 
lightly when he comes home and is then blank- 
eted he will dry out in half an hour, remain 
warm all night and his food will be utilized to 
repair wasted tissue. If his work is such that 
he does not sweat habitually, it does not make 
much difference how long his coat is. 

Abortion is the most deadly foe of the horse 
breeder. Whenever a mare slips her colt iso- 
late her at once and if the fetus can be found 
burn it or bury it deep in quicklime. Summon 
professional assistance promptly in order that 
the mare may be treated intelligently until the 
parts resume their normal condition. No 
breeder can afford to take any chances with 
abortion. The veterinarian will flush out the 



270 THE HORSE BOOK. 

vagina daily or give instructions how it should 
be done with some antiseptic wash. Mares which 
abort and are promptly treated should 
not be bred again until the proper period 
after the date at which they would have 
foaled had they carried their young to 
full time. Once she has aborted a mare 
is very apt to repeat at about the same 
stage of a subsequent pregnancy. Care should 
therefore be taken to watch her closely about 
that time and she should be kept as quiet and 
free from excitement as possible. If she shows 
signs of approaching premature birth get ex- 
pert aid at once. Trouble may often be headed 
off by administering fluid extract of black haw 
in half-ounce doses every other day, beginning 
perhaps three weeks before the time at which 
she may abort and continuing as long after it. 
It is best, though, to place the mare under the 
care of a veterinarian. Still the black haw is a 
standard remedy in such cases. Strong medi- 
cines should never be given to in-foal mares. 

Discharges from the vagina, such as leu- 
corrhea (whites) should always be treated by 
injecting into the vagina some antiseptic solu- 
tion, such as a one-per-cent solution of perman- 
ganate of potash. Solutions of coaltar dip are 
also useful for this purpose, the strength being 
gauged according to the instructions of the 
makers, and often a simple alkaline solution— 
of bicarbonate of soda for instance— will neu- 



HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 271 

tralize the acid secretions, clean up the organs 
and facilitate conception. Mares showing any 
discharge from the vagina should not be bred 
until they have been thoroughly cleansed and 
the discharge stopped. 

I have made no effort in the foregoing chap- 
ter to cover more than the commonest ills to 
which horseflesh is heir. I have laid stress on 
summoning professional aid promptly because I 
have seen so much loss result from a disinclina- 
tion to spend money on veterinarians' fees and 
a desire to fuss and tinker with dangerous cases 
until too late. Then aid would be summoned 
when it was of no use. It is always best to 
head off trouble as soon as possible. 



272 THE HORSE BOOK. 



APPENDIX. 



STATE AND TERRITORIAL STALLION SERVICE LAWS 

Most of the states now have laws granting liens on 
mare and foal, or both, resulting from the services of 
properly advertised stallions. These laws, as an examina- 
tion of the following pages will disclose, differ very ma- 
terially in the various commonwealths. Stallion owners 
will find it very much to their advantage to comply abso- 
lutely with the provisions of these laws as they relate to 
the obligations imposed upon them, and in all cases to 
seek protection under their terms. For a stallion owner to 
file his list of mares, in order to perfect his liens, does 
not imply distrust of his customers. Taking such action 
is merely an evidence of sound business sense. When the 
lien is perfected those who will not pay voluntarily may 
be forced to pay and those whom the stallioner may desire 
to favor are none the worse off. The wording of some of 
the statutes is not clear; in such eases the advice of a 
local lawyer should be sought. 

ALABAMA. 

"The owner of every stallion, jack, bull, ram, he-goat or 
boar, who keeps it for a profit and charges a price for the 
service thereof, shall have a lien, for the amount of the 
stipulated price therof, on any mare, jenney, cow, ewe, 
she-goat or sow," to .which such sire shall have been bred 
and also on the offspring born next after such service. The 
statute provides that this lien shall be paramount over all 
other liens, but it has been held to be subordinate to a 
prior recorded mortgage. 

Upon filing bond and affidavit the sire owner may have 
an attachment, 

1. When the claim is due and payment is refused. 

2. Whether the claim is due or not, "when the defend- 
ant has traded off, or otherwise disposed of, or there is 
good reason to believe he is about to trade off or otherwise 
dispose of, or remove from the county, any of the animals 
on which the lien exists, without paying the stipulated 
price for sufch service." 

ARIZONA. 

There is no regulation of the stallioner's business in Ari- 
zona, and no lien is given to him. 



THE HOESE BOOK. 273 



ARKANSAS. 

"The owner of any male animal kept for the propagation 
of his species shall have a lien upon any female animal to 
which such male is let, and the offspring of such breeding, 
for the sum contracted therefor, which lien shall attach at 
the time of service of such male, and shall not be lost by 
reason of any sale, exchange, removal from the county, or 
other disposition of such female animal, but upon such 
sale, exchange, removal or disposition without the consent 
of the person holding the lien, the same may be imme- 
diately enforced." 

CALIFORNIA. 

"Every owner or person having in charge any stallion, 
jack or bull, used for propagating purposes, has a lien for 
the agreed price of its service upon any mare or cow and 
upon the offspring of such service, unless some wilfully 
false representation concerning the breeding or pedigree 
of such stallion, jack or bull has been made or published 
by the owner or person in charge thereof, or by some other 
person, at the request or instigation of such owner or per- 
son in charge. 

"Every claimant of a lien provided for in the preceding 
section must, within ninety days after the service on ac- 
count of which the lien is claimed, file in the office of the 
county recorder of the county where the mare or cow sub- 
ject thereto is kept, a verified claim containing a particu- 
lar description of the mare or cow, the date and place of 
service, the name of the owner or reputed owner of such 
mare or cow, a description by name, or otherwise, of the 
stallion, jack or bull performing the service, the name of 
the owner or person in charge thereof, and the amount of 
lien claimed. Such claim, so filed, is notice to subsequent 
purchasers and encumbrances of such mare or cow and of. 
the offspring of such service for one year after such filing. 

"Action to enforce this lien may be brought in any 
county wherein any of the property subject thereto may 
be found, and at the time of issuing summons in such 
action the plaintiff may attach the animals on which his 
lien exists, as provided in the code, by delivering to the 
clerk an affidavit, showing that the defendant is indebted 
to the plaintiff upon a demand for the service fee, and 
that the sum for which the attachment Is asked is an 
actual bona fide existing debt, due and owing from the 
defendant to the plaintiff, and that the attachment is not 
sought, and the action is not brought, to hinder, delay or 
defraud any creditor or creditors of the defendant." 



274 THE HOESE BOOK. 



"The keepers of stallions, jacks, bulls, rams and boars 
have a lien on the get of such animals for the space of 
one year after the birth of the get, for the payment of the 
service fee of such stallion, jack, bull, ram or boar." 

CONNECTICUT. 

There is no lien law in this state, but one who by false 
representations obtains the registration of any animal, 
or who knowingly gives a false pedigree of such animal, is 
liable to a fine of not to exceed $100, or imprisonment for 
not more than one year, or both. 

DELAWARE. 

"From and after the passage of this act each and every 
colt in this state shall be liable for the service of the 
stallion, its sire. Provided, however, that in any and all 
cases where the pedigree or qualities of the stallion is 
misrepresented by its owner or agent, then the foal shall 
not be liable for the service as aforesaid. 

"In order for the owner or owners of any stallion to avail 
themselves of the benefits of this act, it shall be necessary 
for such owner or owners to have printed and posted, at 
ten of the most public places in the county in which the 
said stallion or stallions are to stand or travel, a full 
description and pedigree of his or their stallion or stallions, 
and to exhibit a copy to the owner or owners of any mare 
about to be served by such stallion." The stallioner must 
bring his action within sixty days after the foal is dropped, 
and after refusal to pay the fee. After judgment the lien 
reverts back to the day of the foaling of the colt and is 
prior to any other execution or mortgage. 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

There is no lien given and no stallion regulation in the 
District. 



"Owners of stallions, jacks or bulls shall have a lien of 
superior dignity upon the colt or calf of the get of said 
stallion, jackass or bull: provided however, that such serv- 
ice shall have been done upon the application of the owner 
of the mother of such colt or calf." 

GEORGIA. 

The owner or keeper of any stallion, jack or blooded or 
imported bull or boar in this state shall have a lien on 



THE HORSE BOOK. 275 



the get thereof, for the service of such stallion, jack or 
blooded or imported bull or boar, for the period of one 
year from the birth of such get, which lien shall be supe- 
rior to all other liens, except the lien for taxes. The lien 
herein provided for shall not become operative unless the 
same be recorded in the office of the clerk of the superior 
court of the county wherein the owner of the mother 
resides, within six months after the performance of the 
sei'vice, and the said clerk shall keep a book in which all 
such liens are to be recorded, and said clerk sliall receive 
twenty-five cents each for recording such lien; Provided, 
said animals shall be kept by the owners thereof inclosed 
in their own pasture or otherwise. 

IDAHO. 

The owner or person in charge of a stallion, jack or bull 
has a lien on the dam and offspring, provided that within 
ninety days after the service he files with the recorder of 
the county where the dam is situated, a notice containing 
a particular description of the mare, when served and 
the amount of lien claimed. This notice operates as a 
notice to subsequent purchasers and incumbrances in good 
faith for one year from the date of filing. Provided also, 
that every owner of a sire charging a service fee shall file 
a statement under oath, with the auditor of the county in 
which the sire is kept, "giving the name, age, description 
and pedigree as well as the terms and conditions upon 
such sire is advertised for service." 

The lien upon the get is valid for eighteen months from 
the date of birth and has priority over all other liens and 
encumbrances upon the get, provided that within twelve 
months from the service the stallioner files with the aud- 
itor of the county wherein the service was rendered a 
statement of account properly verified, giving the amount 
due and a description of the female. 

If in a suit for service fees the court in rendering judg- 
ment certifies In the record that the plaintiff has complied 
with the statute and that the get of the service is subject 
to the lien, the get is not exempt from execution on such 
judgment. 

ILLINOIS. 

"Every owner of a sire charging a service fee, in order 
to have a lien upon the get of any such sire * * * * 
shall file a statem.ent, verified by oath or affirmation of the 
best of his knowledge and belief, with the secretary of the 
State Board of Agriculture, giving the name, age, descrip- 



276 THE HOESE BOOK. 

tion and pedigree, as well as the terms and conditions 
upon which such sire is advertised for service. 

"The secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, upon 
receipt of the statement as speciiied above, duly verified 
by affidavit, shall issue a certificate to the owner of the 
said sire, a copy of which certificate shall be forwarded 
to the clerk of the county court in which said sire is sta- 
tioned or located, and another copy furnished the appli- 
cant, which shall be posted by the owner in a conspicuous 
place where said sire may be stationed, which certificate 
shall state the name, age, description, pedigree and owner- 
ship of said sire, the terms and conditions upon which the 
sire is advertised for service, and that the provisions of 
this act, so far as relates to the filing of the statement 
aforesaid, have been complied with." 

The owner who has complied with the statute has a lien 
on the get of his sire and such get is not exempt from 
execution on a judgment for the service fee if the court 
certifies that the statute has been complied with, that the 
get is subject to the lien and this finding, with a descrip- 
tion of the claim, is endorsed on the execution. 

INDIANA. 

A sire owner in Indiana who takes out a license for his 
horse has a lien on the get for the amount of the service 
fee agreed on. If there was no specific agreement, then 
for the amount of the advertised fee. To make the lien 
good against third parties, the stallioner must file a notice 
in the office of the recorder in the county where the owner 
of the mare resides. This notice must be filed within one 
year from the date of service, and gives the stallioner a lien 
as against third parties for one year after such filing. This 
constitutes notice to all of the existence of the lien and 
the stallioner may take the get in any township in the 
state, in which it may be found, in an action before a 
justice of the peace in that township. The notice must 
contain a description of the dam, owner's name, name of 
sire, name and residence of its owner, date of service and 
amount of service fee, together with any written agree- 
ment which may have been made at the time of service. 

Where the mare and get remain in the hands of the 
same owner who brought the mare for service, the licensed 
sire owner will have a lien for two years from the date of 
service, and one year from the date of filing notice when 
the colt has been disposed of. 

Any owner who disposes or attempts to dispose of a 
female without providing for the payment of the service 



THE HORSE BOOK. 277 

fee or who falsely represents that she has been bred to an 
improved sire other than the one to which she has been 
bred, is liable to a fine of $50. 

INDIAN TESRITOBY. 

The owner or keeper of a jack or stallion has a lien on 
the mare for the service fee. 

"Such lien shall attach after the time of service of any 
mare by any jack or stallion, and shall be enforced or fore- 
closed at any time on or after maturity of the debt as 
agreed upon by the parties to the contract, and may be 
enforced or foreclosed in the same manner as laborers' 
liens are enforced by law." 

The lien may be enforced after the mare has passed to 
the possession of third parties. 



Any owner or keeper of any stallion, kept for public 
service, or for sale, exchange or transfer, who represents 
such animal to be pure-bred shall cause the same to be 
registered in some stud book recognized by the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture at Washington, D. C, and obtain a 
certificate of registration, whicli must be submitted to the 
secretary of the State Board of Agriculture of the state 
of Iowa. If such registration is found to be correct and 
genuine he shall issue a certificate setting forth the name, 
sex, age and color of the animal and the volume and page 
of the stud book in which such animal is registered. 

Anyone who represents his animal to be pure-bred shall 
place a copy of the certificate of the State Board on the 
door or stall of the stable where the animal is usually 
kept. Any owner or keeper of a stallion kept for public 
service, for which a state certificate has not been issued, 
must advertise such horse by having printed hand bills 
or posters, not less than five by seven inches in size, and 
such bills or posters must have printed thereon imme- 
diately preceding or above the name of the stallion, the 
words "grade stallion," in type not less than one inch in 
height, said bills or posters to be posted in a conspicuous 
manner at all places where the stallion is kept for public 
service. The certificate may be transferred to a purchaser 
through the secretary of the State Board of Agriculture. 

Any person who shall fraudulently represent any ani- 
mal, horse, cattle, sheep or swine, to be pure-bred, or any 
person who shall post or publish, or cause to be posted 
or published, any false pedigree or certificate, or shall 
use any stallion for public service, or sell, exchange or 



278 THE HOESE BOOK. 



transfer any stallion, representing such animal to be pure- 
bred, without first having such animal registered, and ob- 
taining the certificate of the State Board of Agriculture, 
as above provided, or who shall violate any of the pro- 
visions of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and 
be punished by a fine of not more than $100, or imprisoned 
in the county jail not exceeding thirty days, or by both 
such fine and imprisonment. 



The owner of any stallion, jack or bull has a lien on 
the offspring of his animal for the service fee, for one 
year after the birth of such offspring: "Provided, That 
at or before the time of foaling or birth of said offspring, 
the owner of tlie stallion, bull or jack shall file in the 
office of the register of deeds of the county where the dam 
of said offspring is kept, a description of the dam on 
whose offspring he claims a lien. Such a lien shall be en- 
forced as other liens upon personal property under chapter 
142 of the Session Laws of 1872 are enforced." 

KENTUCKT. 

"The licensed keepers of stallions, jacks and bulls shall 
have a lien upon the get of such stallion, jack or bull for 
one year after the birth of the same for the payment of the 
service fee; but the get of such animals shall not be sub- 
ject to the lien when a receipt for. said services is shown 
by the owner of such get." 

LOUISIANA. 

"No person or association of persons shall be permitted 
to stand any stud horse, jack or bull in this state without 
having first obtained a license from the parish or munici- 
pal corporation in which such stud horse, jack or bull 
shall stand; which license shall be equal in amount to 
the greatest sum charged for the services of the same; 
provided that no person or association of persons who 
shall stand any stud horse, jack or bull without having 
first obtained the license provided for in this section, shall 
be permitted to recover any amount for such service. 

"Any person or association of persons who shall stand 
any stud horse, jack or bull in compliance with the terms 
of this act, shall have a lien and privilege upon the issue 
of said stud horse, jack or bull for the period of one year, 
which lien and privilege shall prime all others." 



THE HORSE BOOK. 279 



"The owner or keeper of any stallion for breeding pur- 
poses, before advertising, by written or printed notices, 
tlie service thereof, shall file a certificate with the register 
of deeds in the county where said stallion is owned or kept, 
stating the name, color, age and size of same, together 
with the pedigree of said stallion as fully as attainable, 
and the name of the person by whom he was bred. Who- 
ever neglects to make and file such certificate shall recover 
no compensation for said services, and, if he knowingly and 
wilfully makes and files a false certificate of the state- 
ments aforesaid, he forfeits one hundred dollars, to be re- 
covered by complaint, indictment or action of debt, to the 
county where the offense is committed. * * * whoever 
knowingly exhibits, makes or gives a false pedigree of any 
animal, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more 
than ninety days, or by fine not exceeding three hundred 
dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment." 

MARYLAND. 

Every owner or agent who may have the custody or con- 
trol of any stallion, who shall charge a fee for the services 
of such stallion, shall before advertising or offering such 
service to the public for any fee, reward or compensation, 
file with the clerk of the circuit court for the county in 
which such owner or owners, agent or agents, reside, or 
in which such stallion shall be kept for service, or if such 
service shall be offered in the city of Baltimore, then with 
the clerk of the court of common pleas, a written state- 
ment giving the name, age, pedigree and record, if known, 
and if not known then that the same is unknown, the 
description, terms and conditions upon which such stal- 
lion will serve. Upon filing such statement the clerk of 
the circuit court for the county, or of the court of common 
pleas of Baltimore, as the case may be, shall issue a cer- 
tificate or license to the owner or owners, agent or agents, 
having the custody and control of such stallion that such 
a statement has been filed in his office; the owner or 
agent or agents of the owners of such stallion, shall then 
post a written or printed copy of the statement so filed 
with such clerk, in a conspicuous place in each locality in 
which said stallion shall be kept for service. 

Every owner or agent who shall proclaim or publish a 
false or fraudulent pedigree or record, or statement of any 
kind regarding any stallion or who shall neglect or refuse 
to comply with the provisions of above section shall for- 
feit all fees for the services of such stallion, and the per- 



280 THE HORSE BOOK. 

son or persons who may be deceived or defrauded by such 
false or fraudulent pedigree or record or statement may 
sue for and recover in any court of competent jurisdiction 
such damages as may be shown to have been sustained 
by reason of such false and fraudulent representations. 

Whenever the owner or agent of an owner or owners of 
any stallion shall have complied with the foregoing pro- 
visions of this sub-title, the services of such stallion shall 
become a lien on each mare served, together with the foal 
resulting from such service, for the amount agreed upon 
between the owner of the mare and the owner of the stal- 
lion at the time of the service, or in the event of no such 
agreement, then in such an amount as is specified for the 
service of such stallion in the statement hereinbefore re- 
quired to be filed with the clerks of court of the respective 
counties or of Baltimore City. 

Any person entitled to a lien under this sub-title, shall 
file a claim or statement of the same in the office of the 
clerk of the court for the county where the owner of the 
mare resides, or if such owner is a resident of Baltimore 
City, then said lien shall be filed in the office of the clerk 
of the superior court of Baltimore City; provided, that 
the statement of said lien shall be filed within twelve 
months from the date of the service of the stallion for 
which the lien is claimed, and that the lien shall termi- 
nate at the end of six months from the date of the filing 
of the same. 

Before standing any stallion or jackass the owner must 
pay to the clerk of the circuit court of some county in the 
state the highest sum which he intends to ask or receive 
for the season of one mare. This payment to the clerk 
must not be less than $10 and the receipt of the 
clerk is a license for one year and exempts the stallion 
or jack from all other state tax. Any owner standing his 
stallion or jack without a license forfeits twice the sura 
above mentioned. Upon information under oath, the sher- 
iff may seize any stallion or jack standing without a 
license. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

"The owner or keeper of a stallion for breeding pur- 
poses shall, before advertising the service thereof, file a 
certificate of the name, color, age, size and pedigree, as 
fully as obtainable, of said stallion, and of the name of 
the person by whom he was bred, with the clerk of the 
city or town in which said stallion is owned or kept, who 
shall, upon payment of a fee of twenty-five cents, record 
the same in a book to be kept for that purpose. Whoever 



THE HORSE BOOK. 281 

neglects to make and file such certificate shall recover no 
compensation for the services of his stallion, and who- 
ever knowing!}' and wilfully makes a false certificate shall 
be punished by a fine of $100 for each offense." 

MICHIGAN. 

The stallioner has a lien on the get of his animal, for 
the period of six months after the birth of get. In order 
to obtain this lien the stallioner must post bills or posters 
conspicuously at all places where the stallion is stood for 
service and must post at least three along the route that 
shall be travelled by the stallion. These posters must con- 
tain a correct statement of the age and breeding of the 
stallion, and of the terms of service, and having been 
posted as above provided, constitute a contract between the 
stallioner and owner of the dam. This lien is not good as 
against subsequent purchasers of the dam in good faith 
unless the stallioner files with the clerk of the township 
where the dam is owned at the time of service, a notice 
of the lien, a copy of the contract and a description of the 
dam. 

The lien may be enforced by seizure of the colt, but no 
action for the service fc3 or seizure of the colt shall be had 
until after demand for payment, and no recovery can be 
had if the stallioner has wilfully or fraudulently misrep- 
resented the breeding of his stallion. 

MINNESOTA. 

Any one standing a stallion for public service must 
cause the name, description and pedigree to be enrolled in 
the college of agriculture of the University of Minnesota, 
upon which a license is issued to him. The license must 
be recorded with the register of deeds in any county where 
the stallion is used for public service. In order to procure 
his license the stallioner must present a certificate from a 
licensed, qualified and reputable veterinarian to the effect 
that the stallioner is free from infectious, contagious or 
transmissible disease or unsoundness. He must also fur- 
nish the certificate of pedigree of the stallion and all other 
necessary papers relating to the breeding and ownership. 
The stallion registration board has the power to refuse a 
certificate of enrollment to a diseased stallion and on the 
same ground to revoke a license certificate previously is- 
sued. 

During the breeding season copies of the license certifi- 
cate must be posted conspicuously on the main door lead- 
ing to the building where the stallion stands for public 



282 THE HORSE BOOK. 

service. Bills and advertisements of a licensed stallion 
must contain a copy of the license certificate, but must not 
contain illustrations, pedigrees or other matter that is un- 
truthful or misleading. The registration fee is two dollars 
with an annual renewal fee of one dollar. Stallions must 
be examined every four years until ten years of age, and 
after the first examination are exempt at ten years of age 
or over. Upon change of ownership the license certificate 
may be transferred by the secretary of the board of en- 
rollment. Violators of any of the provisions of the act 
are liable to a fine of from $25 to $100 for each offense. 

MISSISSIPPI. 

A privilege tax of $5 is imposed on all stallions or jacks 
which stand for fee. The owner of a stallion, jackass or 
bull has a lien on its offspring for the price agreed to be 
paid therefor, and may enforce such lien in the manner 
provided for enforcing the lien of stable keepers, subject 
to all of the provisions of the chapter on that subject. 
"But if the owner shall have falsely represented the breed- 
ing, registration, or pedigree of his stallion, jackass or 
bull, by advertisement or otherwise, he shall not have a 
lien * * * as against any person who acted under the 
belief that such representation was true; and, in such 
case, the owner of the animal shall not have any claim for 
the service of the stallion, jackass or bull." 

This lien runs for twelve months after the birth of off- 
spring and is good against the world, including subsequent 
purchasers for a valuable consideration without notice. 



The owner or keeper of any stallion, jack or bull may 
advertise the terms upon which he will let any such ani- 
mal to service, by publication in some newspaper of the 
county where the animal is kept, for sixty days during 
the season of each year, or by printed hand-bills conspicu- 
ously posted during such period, in four or more public 
places in the county, including the place where the animal 
is kept; and such publication or posting shall impart no- 
tice thereof to the owner of any female served by such 
sire during that season, and the owner of the female 
served shall be deemed to have accepted and assented to 
the said terms, when so published or posted. 

"When the terms of service as posted or published, shall 
provide that the offspring of the service will be held for 
the service fee, the owner of the sire shall have a lien on 
the offspring of any female served, for the period of one 



THE HOESE BOOK. 283 

year after the birth thereof, which said lien shall be pre- 
ferred to any prior lien, mortgage or incumbrance what- 
ever; and the publication or posting shall be deemed notice 
to any third party of the existence of such lien. 

"Any person who shall sell, convey or dispose of any 
animal upon which there exists a lien as created in the 
preceding section, without informing the person to whom 
the same is sold or conveyed that such lien exists, or who 
shall injure or destroy such animal, or aid or abet the 
same, for the purpose of defrauding the lienor, or who 
shall remove or conceal, or aid or abet in removing or 
concealing such animal with intent to hinder, delay or 
defraud such lienor, shall be deemed guilty of a misde- 
meanor." 

The giving of a false pedigree or falsely representing 
the animal to be eligible to registry forfeits all claim for 
service fee, and all benefit of the lien law. The stallioner 
may enforce his lien by replevin. 

MONTANA. 

Every owner or agent who may have the control of any 
stallion, who shall charge a fee for the service of such stal- 
lion, shall, before offering or advertising such services to 
the public for any fee, reward or compensation, file with 
the clerk of the county in which owner or owners or 
agents reside, or where such stallion shall be kept for 
service, a written statement, giving the name, age, pedi- 
gree and record if known, if not that the same is un- 
known, description, terms and conditions upon which such 
stallion will serve. Upon filing such statement the county 
clerk shall issue a certificate or license to owner or own- 
ers or agents, having custody and control of such stallion, 
that such a statement has been filed in his office; the owner 
or owners or agents of such stallions shall then post a 
written or printed notice of a copy of the statement so filed 
with the county clerk in a conspicuous place in each local- 
ity in which said stallion shall be kept for service. 

Every owner or agent who shall proclaim or publish a 
false or fraudulent pedigree or record or statement of any 
kind regarding a stallion, or who shall neglect or refuse 
to comply with the above provisions, shall forfeit all fees 
for the services of such stallion and the person or persons 
who may have been deceived or defrauded by such false 
or fraudulent pedigree or record or statement, may sue 
and recover in any court having jurisdiction, such dam- 
ages as may be shown to have been sustained by reason of 
false representation and fraud. 



284 THE HORSE BOOK. 



Whenever the owner or agent of any stallion shall have 
complied with the foregoing provisions of this act, the 
services of such stallion shall become a lien on each mare 
served, together with a foal of such mare served from such 
service in an amount agreed upon between the parties at 
the time of service; or, if agreement was not entered into 
by them, in such amount as specified as service fee of stal- 
lion or stallions in the statement of the owner or agent 
filed with the county clerk; Provided, a notice of lien shall 
be filed within twelve months after such service; such 
lien shall terminate at the end of the year from the date 
of filing notice thereof, unless within that time an action 
shall be commenced for the enforcement thereof. 

I^EBBASKA. 

"Owners of stallions, jacks and bulls of the state of 
Nebraska shall have a lien upon the get of such stallion, 
jack or bull for the period of nine months after the birth 
of same for the payment of the services of said stallion, 
jack or bull; provided that the owner of such stallion, jack 
or bull shall Lave filed in the office of the clerk of the 
county in which such get is owned a description of the 
same with date of birth within one hundred and twenty 
days after the birth thereof. Said iien may be at any time 
after the filing of said description foreclosed in manner 
and form as provided by law for the foreclosing of chattel 
mortgages." 

NEVADA. 

"Any person who shall sell any stallion within the lim- 
its of this state, intended for breeding purposes, and who 
shall give a false or erroneous written pedigree, shall be 
deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof, shall 
be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a 
term of not less than one year nor more than five years, 
and such person so offending shall be liable to the person 
so purchasing for al'l damages he may sustain by reason of 
such false record of pedigree; provided, that the provisions 
of this act shall not apply to any representation concern- 
ing pedigree unless the same has been reduced to writing 
and signed by the party so making the same. 

"Every person who shall keep a stallion for the service 
of mares shall keep posted in a conspicuous place on or 
near the stable where such stallion is kept, a full and 
complete pedigree of such stallion headed by the name by 
which said stallion is known; provided, that in cases 
where the pedigree is unknown such fact shall be inserted 
in such notes in lien of pedigree. Any person violating 



THE HORSE BOOK. 285 

the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined in 
any sum not less than one hundred dollars nor more than 
five hundred dollars, and as a further punishment for the 
offense the owner or keeper of such horse shall have no 
legal right to collect any charges made for services of 
such horse." 

There is no lien given to the stallioner. 

NEW IIAMPSniRE. 

"Every person who offers for hire the service of a stal- 
lion for breeding purposes shall make a certificate stating 
the name, color, age, size and pedigree (so far as known) 
and the name and residence of the person by whom he 
was bred, and shall cause the certificate to be recorded 
by the secretary of the Board of Agriculture. He shall 
also insert a copy of the certificate in all posters and 
notices advertising the stallion, and shall give a copy of it 
to the keeper of each mare served by the stallion for hire." 

Neglect to make or record the certificate, or neglect to 
give a copy of it to the keeper of the mare forfeits the 
service fee "unless he shall show that the person had 
actual knowledge of it at the time of service." Making 
false statements in the certificate or giving a false copy 
of it to a mare owner makes the stallioner liable to a 
fine of $100. Compliance with this statute gives the stal- 
lioner a preferred lien on the colt until it is eight months 
old, and colt may be attached at any time after it is four 
months old. 

NEW JEKSEY. 

There is no stallion law in this state. 

NEW MEXICO. 

There is no stallion lien law in New Mexico. 

NEW YORK. 

"On complying with the provisions of this article, the 
owner of a stallion shall have a lien on each mare served 
together with the foal of such mare from such service, for 
the amount agreed on at the time of service, or if no 
agreement was made, for the amount specified in the 
statement hereinafter required to be filed, if within fifteen 
months after such service he files a notice of such lien in 
the same manner and place as chattel mortgages are 
required by law to be filed. Such notice of lien shall be in 
writing, specifying the person against whom the claim is 
made, the amount of the same and a description of the 



286 THE HORSE BOOK. 



property upon which the lien is claimed, and such li^n 
shall terminate at the end of eighteen months from the 
■ date of such filing, unless within that time an action is 
commenced for the enforcement thereof, as provided in 
the code of civil procedure for the foreclosure of a lien on 
chattels. 

"A person having the custody or control of a stallion 
and charging a fee for his services, shall, before adver- 
tising or offering such services to the public, file with the 
clerk of the county in which he resides or in which such 
stallion is kept for service, a written statement giving 
the name, age, description and pedigree if known, and if 
not, stating that the same is unknown, of such stallion and 
the terms and conditions on which he will serve. On 
filing such statement, the county clerk shall * * issue 
a certificate to such person, that such statement has been 
so filed and recorded." A copy of this statement and cer- 
tificate must be posted in a conspicuous place in each 
locality in which the stallion is kept for service. 

Any one who neglects or refuses to file and- post such 
statement as required, or who therein falsely states the 
pedigree of the stallion, forfeits all fees for the service and 
is liable to any one injured thereby. 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

The owner of a stud horse, jack or bull has a lien on 
the get which is in force until the service fee is paid. The 
colt or calf is not exempt from an execution for the pay- 
ment of the service fee by reason of any personal property 
exemptions; Provided, the stallioner institutes action • to 
enforce his lien within twelve months from the birth of 
get. 

NORTH DAKOTA. 

"Filing Statement of Pedigree Pre-requisite. Every 
owner of a sire charging a service fee, in order to have a 
lien for service upon the offspring of any such sire under 
the provisions of this chapter, shall file a statement, veri- 
fied by oath, to the best of his knowledge and belief, with 
the commissioner of agriculture and labor; giving the 
name, age, description and pedigree or breeding of such 
sire, so far as known, as well as the terms and conditions 
upon which he is advertised for service. 

"The commissioner of agriculture and labor, upon receipt 
of the statement specified in the last section, shall issue a 
certificate to the owner thereof, who shall file a copy of 
such certificate with the register of deeds of the county or 
counties in which such sire shall stand for service, and 



THE HORSE BOOK. 287 



copies of such certificate shall also be posted conspicu- 
ously in all places where such sire shall stand for service, 
which certificate shall state the name, age, description, 
pedigree and ownership of such sire and the terms and 
conditions upon which the sire is advertised for service. 
Such certificate shall be procured and filed prior to the 
service of such sire, and all certificates procured and posted 
according to this section shall be operative as long as the 
terms and conditions remain the same. The original cer- 
tificate shall follow the sire in all changes of ownership 
and all transfers shall be recorded in the office of the 
commissioner of agriculture and labor and a bill of sale 
filed with the register of deeds, as is provided for the 
filing of the original certificate, and that the provisions 
of this chapter so far as relates to the filing of the state- 
ment aforesaid have been complied with. 

"The owner of any sire receiving such certificate shall 
have a lien upon the offspring of such sire and upon the 
female served, upon filing at any time within eight months 
after the service, in the office of the register of deeds of 
the county in which such female is kept at the time of 
service, a statement of the account thereof, together with 
a description of the female served. Such lien shall exist 
for a period of three years from the date of filing the 
statement and shall have priority over all other liens and 
incumbrances upon the offs'pring and the female served. 

"After the expiration of nine months from the filing of 
the lien, or at any time after an attempt shall be made to 
dispose of the female, or remove her from the county, the 
lien may be enforced by a sale of the property covered 
thereby, upon the notice and in the manner provided for 
the foreclosure of mortgages upon personal property." 

OHIO. 

"That the keeper of any stallion or jack shall have a 
lien upon the get of the same for the period of twelve 
months after birth of the same, for the payment of the 
service of any such stallion or jack. Such keeper or owner 
may enforce said lien by replevin of the property before 
any justice of the peace of the township where the prop- 
erty is found, and after gaining possession of the same, he 
may, after first giving ten days' notice to the reputed 
owner thereof of his intention to do so, sell the same at 
public sale after two weeks' notice of the time and place 
of sale by notices posted up in five conspicuous and public 
places in the township where proceedings in replevin are 
had, and out of the proceeds of sale retain the amount due 
him for said service, with the costs by him incurred in 



288 THE HORSE BOOK. 



said replevin suit, and accounting to the owner for the 
surplus realized by said sale. And the owner of any such 
stallion or jack, when payment is made to him or his 
agent, for any such get, shall deliver to the payee a receipt 
in full for the amount so paid, and stating for what paid. 
And any such keeper or owner of any stallion or jack, who 
misrepresents the pedigree, or fails to publish a correct 
pedigree of his stallion or jack, when excellency of good 
Qualities are claimed on account thereof, shall, upon proof 
of such misrepresentation, forfeit the services in any case 
when legally contested and proven, and shall be otherwise 
punished as provided by law against the use of false pedi- 
gree." 

OKLAHOMA. 

"The owner or keeper of any stallion, jack or bull may 
advertise the terms upon which he will let such animal 
to service by publication thereof in some newspaper in the 
county where such animal is kept for a period of sixty days 
during the season of each year, or by printed handbills 
conspicuously posted during such period in four or more 
public places in said county, including the place where 
such animal is kept; and the publication or posting as 
aforesaid of the terms of such service shall impart notice 
thereof to the owner of any female served by such stal- 
lion, jack or bull during such season; and in all action and 
controversies in respect to the foal or other product of such 
service the owner of such female animal so served shall 
be deemed to have accepted and assented to said terms, 
when so advertised or posted as provided herein. 

"When the said terms of such service by any such ani- 
mal, published or posted as provided in the above section, 
shall provide that the foal or other product of such service 
will be held for the money due for the services of such 
stallion, jack or bull, then and in that event the owner or 
keeper of any such animal may file with the recorder of 
deeds of the county in which such animal is kept for 
service, a certificate signed by the owner of the female 
bred, or his representative, also the owner or keeper of the 
male animal rendering the service, stating the terms of 
such service, a description of the female served, also a 
description of the male rendering the service, the date of 
service and acceptance of terms by owner of female, and 
such certificate, if filed within three months after the 
rendering of such srvice, shall become and continue a 
lien on the offspring for the period of six months after 
the birth thereof, and the filing of such certificate shall be 
constructive notice to any third party of the existence of 



THE HORSE BOOK. 289 

the lien; Provided, that as between the owner of any stal- 
lion, jack or bull, as provided in the preceding section and 
the owner of any female served, a lien shall exist not- 
withstanding no certificate as herein pi'ovided shall be 
filed or notice given as in this article provided." 

The recorders of the several counties are required to 
keep a book especially for the recording of these certifi- 
cates. 

If the sire owner advertises a false pedigree, or falsely 
represents his animal to be eligible to be recorded, he loses 
all claim for the services of that animal and all benefit 
of the stallion law. 

The lien is enforced by replevin of the animal on which 
it is claimed, and the replevin suit will take the course 
and be decided as are other replevin suits. 

OREGON. 

The owner of any stallion within the state may file with 
the county clerk of any county therein, on or before the 
31st day of December of each year, a list of mares served 
by such stallion during that year upon which such owner 
claims a lien for the service fee of such stallion for such 
year; and from the time of filing such lists and claim for 
liens the owner of such stallion shall have and hold a lien 
upon each mare therein described, and upon her colt, if 
any for the amount of the service fee of such stallion due 
on such mare. Such list and claim for liens shall contain 
the name and a brief description of each of such mares, 
the name of the owner of each mare, the terms upon 
which such mare was bred, the amount of service fee due 
on such mare, the time the same is payable, and a state- 
ment that the owner of such stallion claims a lien on 
such mare and her colt, if any, by such stallion for the 
amount of said service fee, and such list and claim shall 
be subscribed and verified by the oath of the owner of 
such stallion or his agent. 

The liens secured and provided for by the preceding 
section shall expire in one year after the 31st day of De- 
cember on or before which said claim for liens may be filed 
as aforesaid, unless the same shall be renewed within 
thirty days before the expiration thereof by the owner or 
his agent, making and filing an aflidavit to be attached to 
the original list and claim for liens, setting forth the 
service fees therein still remaining unpaid, and then such 
affidavit shall renew and extend such lien for another year. 
All persons holding any such lien may enforce the same 
against the mare and colt, or either of them, by action in 
any justice court in any county where such mare or colt. 



290 THE HORSE BOOK. 

or either of them, may be found, and such court may ren- 
der judgments that such lien exists against such mare or 
colt, or both of them, and direct that they be sold to sat- 
isfy tlie said service fee, or any part thereof remaining 
unpaid, together with the costs and disbursements of said 
action, in the manner provided by law for the sale of per- 
sonal property upon execution; and in all actions to en- 
force such liens both the owner of such mare named in 
said claim for lien and any person claiming any interest 
or title to such mare or colt, may be made parties thereto, 
but any such party may set up any defense to the claim 
of the plaintiff in such action which the owner of the mare, 
at the time of breeding, if a party, would be entitled to 
make, and the filing of such lists and claim for lien as 
aforesaid shall be constructive notice thereof to all persons 
buying or in any way dealing with or in regard to any 
such mare or her colt after such mare shall have been bred, 
and any transfer or purchase of such property shall be 
subject to such lien. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

All stallions, used for breeding purposes, must be en- 
rolled by name, description and pedigree, with the State 
Livestock Sanitary Board, and the certificate of enrollment 
must be recorded by the prothonotary of the county or 
counties where the stallion is used for public service. 

"In order to obtain the license certificate herein provided 
for, the owner of such stallion shall file a certificate of 
soundness, signed by a duly qualified veterinarian, or, in 
lieu thereof, he may make oath before a notary public 
that, after diligent inquiry, such stallion is, to the best of 
his knowledge, free from hereditary, contagious or trans- 
missible unsoundness or disease, and shall forward this 
veterinarian's certificate, or his affidavit, together with the 
stud-book certificate of registry of the pedigree of the said 
stallion, and any other documents that may be necessary 
to define and describe his breeding and ownership, to the 
State Livestock Sanitary Board." 

The board may in its discretion refuse a license to a 
stallion because of transmissible physical unsoundness or 
because of the pedigree not being recorded in a book recog- 
nized by the United States Department of Agriculture. 

Copies of this license certificate must be posted in a 
conspicuous place both within and upon the outside of the 
main door leading into any stable or building where the 
stallion stands for public service, and must be kept in 
place during the entire breeding season. 



THE HORSE BOOK. 291 



Bills, posters or advertisements must contain a copy of 
the certificate of enrollment. 

Upon transfer of ownership of the stallion, the certificate 
may be transferred to the purchaser by the state board. 
Violation of any of the provisions of the act is punishable 
by fine not to exceed $50. 

RHODE ISLAND. 

There is no regulation of the service of stallions in this 
state, and no lien is given. 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

"The owner of any stock horse, jack, bull, boar or ram, 
kept by him for the purpose of raising from, having a 
claim by contract against the owner of any mare or cow, 
or other stock, for service, shall have a prior lien on the 
issue of such mare, cow or other stock for the amount of 
such claim; provided, an action shall be instituted to en- 
force such claim, by suit, before a magistrate or other offi- 
cer having jurisdiction, within twelve months from the time 
such shall have accrued." 

SOUTH DAKOTA. 

The owner of a stallion or bull has a lien upon the mare 
or cow and upon the offspring, provided that within ninety 
days after the service, he files with the register of deeds 
in the county where the mare or cow is situated, a notice 
in writing, containing a particular description of the said 
mare or cow, when served, and the amount of lien claimed 
upon the same, which notice when so filed is notice to sub- 
sequent purchasers or incumbrancers for one year after 
filing. (Statute of 1883, not repealed.) 

Law of 1890. — Every owner of a sire, charging a service 
fee, in order to have a lien on the get of such sire must 
file a statement, verified by oath or affirmation, to the best 
of his knowledge and belief, with the county clerk or audi- 
tor, giving the name, age, description and pedigree, as well 
as the terms and conditions upon which such sire is adver- 
tised for service. Upon filing this statement the owner 
gets a certificate, "a copy of which certificate shall be filed 
with the clerk of the court in the county where the said 
sire is stationed or located, and other copies furnished the 
applicant, which certificates shall be posted by the owner 
in conspicuous places where said sire may be stationed for 
service, which certificate shall state the name, age, descrip- 
tion, pedigree and ownership of said sire, the terms and 
conditions upon which the sire is advertised for service. 



292 THE HOKSE BOOK. 

and that the provisions of this article so far as relates to 
the filing of the statement aforesaid, have been complied 
with." 

Having obtained his certificate, the owner of the sire has 
a prior lien upon the get of the sire, for eighteen months 
from the date of birth, "Provided, said owner or owners 
shall within twelve months from the time of rendition of 
such service by such certified sire file for record a state- 
ment of account verified by aflidavit or affirmation with the 
recorder of the county wherein the service has been ren- 
dered of the amount due such owner or owners for said 
service, together with a description of the female served." 

No get of such sire is exempt from execution on a judg- 
ment for service fee, provided the court rendering the judg- 
ment certifies on the record, and on the execution with a 
description of the dam that the progeny sought to be levied 
upon is subject to the lien. 

TENNESSEE. 

Any person keeping a stallion, jack, bull or boar for 
public use has a lien on the offspring of the same for the 
season to be paid. 

This lien continues for ten months from the birth of 
offspring and is enforced as landlords' liens are enforced. 
The pedigree under oath of any stallion, jack or bull, 
claimed to be pedigreed live stock, and used for public 
breeding must be filed and recorded with the clerk of the 
county court, presumably in the county where the animal 
is kept or stood for service. During the breeding season a 
certified copy of the pedigree as recorded must be posted 
conspicuously in three different places in the county where 
the owner lives or the animal is stood for service. Anyone 
who knowingly posts or records a false pedigree is liable to 
a fine of from $25 to $100. 

TEXAS. 

"The owner or keeper of any stallion, jack, bull or boar, 
who keeps the same confined for the purpose of standing 
him for profit, shall have a preference lien upon the 
progeny of such stallion, jack, bull or boar, to secure the 
payment of the amount due such owner or keeper for the 
services of such stallion, jack, bull or boar, and such lien 
shall exist by reason of the force and effect of the pro- 
visions hereof, and it shall never be necessary in order to 
secure and fix said lien to secure, file or register any con- 
tract or statement thereof with any officer, nor shall it be 
necessary that the owner of such progeny execute any con- 



THE HOKSE BOOK. 293 

tract whatever, but that such preference lien may be fore- 
closed in the same manner as the statutory landlord's 
lien is by law enforced; provided that where parties mis- 
represent their stock by false pedigree, no lien shall ob- 
tain. 

"The lien herein provided shall remain in force for a 
period of ten months from the birth of said progeny, but 
shall not be enforced until five months shall have elapsed 
after such birth." 

UTAH. 

"Every person, firm or company, standing, traveling or 
offering for sale any pure-bred or grade stallion in this 
State, shall cause the name, description and pedigree of 
such animal to be enrolled by the said board, and procure 
a certificate of such enrollment from such board, which 
shall thereupon be presented to, and recorded by the regis- 
ter of deeds of the county in which said stallion is used or 
sold for public service. 

"In order to obtain the license certificate herein pro- 
vided for, the owner of each pure-bred or grade stallion 
shall make oath before a notary public, or any other officer 
authorized to administer oaths, that such stallion is, to the 
best of his knowledge, free from hereditary, contagious or 
transmissible unsoundness, or disease, or, in lieu thereof, 
may file a certificate of soundness signed by a duly quali- 
fied veterinarian who shall be a graduate of a recognized 
veterinary college, and shall forward this affidavit, or 
veterinarian's certificate, together with the stud book cer- 
tificate of registry of the pedigree of the said stallion and 
other necessary papers relating to his breeding and owner- 
ship, to the Board of Horse Commissioners. 

"The owner of any stallion, standing for public service 
in this State shall post and keep affixed, during the entire 
breeding season, copies of the license certificate of such 
stallion, issued under the provisions of the next preceding 
section, in a conspicuous place where said stallion stands 
for public service. 

"Every bill, poster, or advertisement issued by the 
owner of any stallion, enrolled under this act or used by 
him for advertising such stallion, shall contain a copy of 
its certificate of enrollment. 

"Every person in the State of Utah complying with the 
provisions of this Act, shall have a lien on the mare and a 
first lien upon the offspring of such service to the amount 
of the agreed service fee for the period of eighteen months 
after service, and it shall not be necessary in order to se- 
cure and fix said lien to secure, file or register any con- 



294 THE HORSE BOOK. 



tract or statement thereof with any officer, nor shall it be 
necessary that the owner of such mare or foal execute any 
contract whatever; the said lien may be foreclosed in the 
same manner that a mortgage upon personal property is 
foreclosed. 

"The fee for examination and enrollment of pedigree is 
$2 and the certificate may be transferred to a new owner of 
the horse upon payment of a further fee of fifty cents." 



"Colts foaled in this state shall be subject to a lien to 
secure the payment of the service fee, which shall con- 
tinue in force until the colt is eight months old, and may 
be enforced by attachment of such colt after it is four 
months old; said lien shall take priority of any other 
claim subject to the following conditions: 

"The owner or manager of the stallion shall, annually, 
file in the office of the clerk of the town v/here such stal- 
lion is kept, on or before the first day pf April, or within 
thirty days after such stallion is brought into such town, a 
declaration of an intention to claim such lien and a state- 
ment containing the name and age of such stallion and 
his pedigree for two generations, if known, and the terms 
of service; a copy of which statement shall be furnished 
the owner of each mare served, and all bills or posters ad- 
vertising such stallion shall contain a copy of such state- 
ment; and when the owner or manager of a stallion has 
complied with all the requirements of this section, if the 
owner or person in whose name a mare has been mated 
with such stallion for breeding purpose disposes of such 
mare by sale or otherwise before foaling time without 
first settling with the owner or keeper for the service of 
the stallion or within ten days after the disposal of the 
mare, he shall be subject to all and the same penalties that 
he would for disposing of a colt encumbered by a lien; 
provided that if such mare is returned for trial to the stal- 
lion after three weeks from the date of the last service and 
found not to have become pregnant and is not again served 
during that breeding season, the provisions of , this section 
shall not apply to the disposal of such mare. 

"If the owner or manager shall, in such statement make 
a false representation regarding the pedigree of such horse, 
the lien for such service shall be discharged and the service 
fee thereby secured shall be forfeited. 

"A person who owns, keeps or uses a stallion of two 
years of age or over for breeding purposes in this state, 
except for his own mares^ shall cause such stallion to be 



THE HOESE BOOK. 295 



registered in the office of the town clerk of the town in 
which he is kept or used. The owner or keeper of such 
stallion shall furnish to the town clerk in the town where 
such registration is made, a certificate of the name, age, 
color, size, name of breeder and pedigree in full of such 
stallion to the third ancestor on the side of both sire and 
dam, if known, and as much of such information as is not 
given shall be acknowledged as not known and so stated, 
and pedigrees given in advertising such stallions shall be 
as recorded in the town clerk's office. The town clerk shall 
record such statement in a book kept for that purpose and 
shall receive from the applicant the sum of fifty cents for 
each stallion so registered and shall furnish the owner or 
keeper procuring such registration a certified copy of the 
same. The owner or keeper of a stallion who fails to com- 
ply with the provisions of this act shall be fined not more 
than fifty dollars nor less than ten dollars and shall receive 
no compensation for breeding services of such stallion. A 
person who makes a false certificate under the provisions 
of this section shall be fined one hundred dollars to the 
use of the town where such stallion is registered." 

VIRGINIA. 

The owner of a licensed stallion, jackass or bull has a 
lien on its offspring for a period of six months after the 
birth thereof. If the claim for lien is recorded in the case 
of a bull it has priority over other liens and is good against 
subsequent purchasers for value. The statute does not de- 
fine the extent of the lien in the case of stallion or jackass 
but simply provides that the lien is in force from its 
recordation. The license is necessary before an owner can 
stand a sire, for compensation, and in the case of stallions 
and jackasses the license fee is $10 and for bulls $2.50. 

WASHINGTON. 

"Every owner of a sire having a service fee, in order 
to have a lien on the female served, and upon the get 
of any such sire, under the provisions of this act for such 
service, shall file for record with the county auditor of the 
county where the said sire is kept for service, a statement 
verified by oath or affirmation to the best of his knowledge 
and belief, giving the name, age, description and pedi- 
gree, as well as the terms and conditions upon which such 
sire is advertised for service; provided, that owners of 
sires who are not in possession of pedigrees for such sires 
shall not be debarred from the benefits of this act." 

Upon filing such statement the owner will get a certifi- 
cate which must be posted by him in a conspicuous place 



296 THE HORSE BOOK. 

whei-e the sire is stationed for service. Having complied 
with the statute, the owner has a lien on the female served 
for one year from the date of service, and on the get for one 
year from the date of birth, provided the owner files with 
the county auditor of the county v^^here the service was 
rendered, a statement showing the amount due and giv- 
ing a description of the female served. This statement 
must be on oath and must be filed within six months from 
the date of service or the date of birth, according whether 
the lien is to be on dam or offspring. This lien is a pre- 
ferred lien and is foreclosed as other liens on personal 
property. 

WEST VIRGINIA. 

The owner of a stallion, jack or bull has a lien on the 
offspring of his animal if the service was by contract with 
the owner of the female or his agent, at the time of serv- 
ice. To perfect or enforce his lien the stallioner must 
within six months from the birth of get file before some 
justice of the county where the get may be, the aflidavit 
of himslf or of "some credible person," stating the amount 
of lien, that it is due by contract and giving a description 
of the foal or calf on which the lien is claimed. "Upon the 
filing of such affidavit, the justice shall issue a warrant to 
the sheriff or to a constable of the county who shall dis- 
train the colt or calf for the amount claimed and the 
same shall be disposed of as if taken for distress for rent." 

WISCONSIN. 

Every person, firm or company using any stallion or 
jack for public service must enroll the name, description 
and pedigree in the department of horse breeding of the 
University of Wisconsin, and record the certificate of en- 
rollment with the register of deeds of the county in which 
the stallion or jack is used for public service. 

In order to obtain this license certificate the owner must 
make oath before a notary public, or any oflScer authorized 
to administer oaths, that the stallion or jack is, to the 
best of his knowledge, free from hereditary, contagious or 
transmissible unsoundness or disease, "or in li,eu thereof, 
may file a certificate of soundness, signed by a duly quali- 
fied veterinarian, who shall be a regular graduate of a rec- 
ognized veterinary college, or by a registered veterinarian 
who shows proof that he was in practice in this state for a 
period of five years prior to the year 1887 and shall make 
oath to said certificate before a notary public, or any officer 
duly authorized to administer oaths," and the affidavit or 
veterinarian's certificate, together with the stud book cer- 



THE HOESE BOOK. 297 

tificate of pedigree must be sent to the department of horse 
breeding of the university. 

Upon complaint the department of horse breeding may 
examine a stallion or jack, to discover whether the animal 
is unsound, but the owner may be represented by a recog- 
nized graduate veterinarian. If they do not agree they 
may appoint a third, whose decision shall be final. 

"The owner of any stallion or jack used for public serv- 
ice in this state, shall post and keep affixed during the 
entire breeding season, copies of the license certificate of 
such stallion or jack, * * * in a conspicuous place 
both within and upon the outside of every stable or build- 
ing where the said stallion or jack is used for public serv- 
ice at his home or elsewhere. 

"Each bill and poster issued by the owner of any stallion 
or jack enrolled undei; this act, or used by him or his 
agent, for advertising such stallion or jack shall contain a 
copy of the stallion's or jack's certificate of enrollment 
printed in bold face type not smaller than long primer on 
said bill or poster, and first mentioned thereon the name 
of the stallion or jack shall be preceded by the words 
'pure-bred,' 'grade,' 'cross-bred,' or 'non-standard bred' in 
accordance with the certificate of enrollment; and it shall 
be illegal to print upon the poster any misleading refer- 
ence to the breeding of the stallion or jack, his sire or his 
dam, or to use upon such bill or poster the portrait of a 
stallion or jack in a misleading way; and each newspaper 
advertisement printed to advertise any stallion or jack for 
public service shall show the enrollment certificate num- 
ber and state whether it reads 'pure-bred,' 'grade,' 'cross- 
bred,' or 'non-standard bred.'" (The foregoing paragraph 
new, 1907.) 

The enrollment license fee is two dollars, and bi- 
ennial renewal fees one dollar each. The certificate may be 
transferred upon proof of change of ownership, and a 
duplicate certificate may be obtained upon proof of loss 
or destruction of the original. Violation of any of the 
provisions of the act is punishable by a fine of not to ex- 
ceed $50. 

"Every owner of a stallion or jack kept and used for 
breeding purposes shall have a lien on any colt begotten 
by such stallion or jack for the sum stipulated to be paid 
for the service thereof, and may seize and take possession 
of said colt without process at any time before it is one 
year old, in case the price agreed upon for such service 
remains unpaid, and sell the same at public auction upon 
ten days' notice, to be posted in at least three public places 



298 THE HORSE BOOK. 

in the town where the owner of such colt resides, and 
apply the proceeds of such sale to the payment of the 
amount due for said service and the expense of such 
seizure and sale, returning the residue if any to the party 
entitled thereto; provided no such lien shall be effectual 
for any purpose as against the innocent purchaser of such 
colt or the dam thereof for value, unless such owner having 
a claim for the service of such stallion or jack shall file 
with the clerk of the city, village or town where the owner 
of the mare served resides a statement showing that such 
service has been rendered and the amount therefor." 

The foregoing is a part of the old law, not repealed by 
the new regulative act. 

WYOMING. 

The stallioner has a lien on mare and colt for the agreed 
service fee, the lien being prior to subsequent liens or 
encumbrances, except the lien for taxes. 

"A notice of such lien shall within six months after the 
day of such service be filed in the office of the county 
clerk of the county in which the mare or colt is held or 
pastured, or subject to taxation." The statute prescribes 
the form of the notice. Breeders' liens may be released in 
the same manner as chattel mortgages. At any time after 
default in payment for the service, and within one year 
from the date of service, the holder of the lien may take 
possession of the mare or colt. 

The statute is very explict in directing the manner of 
sale under this lien. If both mare and colt are taken, the 
colt must be sold first. 

If the owner does not wish to foreclose his lien by tak- 
ing possession he may have it renewed in the same way 
that chattel mortgages are renewed. 



THE HORSE BOOK. 299 

AMERICAN STUD BOOKS. 

American Association of Importers and Breeders of Bel- 
gian Draft Horses — J. D. Conner Jr., Wabash, Ind., Secre- 
tary. 

American Breeders' Association of Jacks and Jennets — 
J. W. Jones, Columbia, Tenn., Secretary. 

American Clydesdale Association — R. B. Ogilvie, Union 
Stock Yards, Chicago, Secretary. 

American Hackney Horse Society — A. H. Godfrey, New 
York, Secretary. 

American Breeders' and Importers' Percheron Registry — 
John A. Forney, Plainfield, O., Secretary. 

American Saddle Horse Breeders' Association — I. B. Nail, 
Louisville, Ky., Secretary. 

American Shetland Pony Club — Mortimer Levering, La- 
fayette, Ind., Secretary. 

American Shire Horse Breeders' Association — Chas. Bur- 
gess, Wenona, 111., Secretary. 

American Stud Book (Thoroughbreds) — W. H. Rowe, 
New York, Registrar. 

American Trotting Register Co. — Frank E. Best, Chicago, 
Registrar. 

American Suffolk Horse Association — Alexander Gal- 
braith, Janesville, Wis., Secretary. 

Cleveland Bay Society of America — R. P. Stericker, West 
Orange, N. J., Secretary. 

French Coach Horse Society of America — Duncan E. Wil- 
lett. Oak Park, 111., Secretary. 

French Coach Registry Co. — Chas C. Glenn, Columbus, 0., 
Secretary. 

German, Hanoverian and Oldenburg Coach Horse Breed- 
ers' Association — J. Crouch, Lafayette, Ind., Secretary. 

Morgan Horse Register — Joseph Battel, Middlebury, Vt., 
Editor. 

National French Draft Horse Association — C. E. Stubbs, 
Fairfield, la.. Secretary. 

Oldenburg Coach Horse Association of America — C. E. 
Stubbs, Fairfield, la.. Secretary. 

Percheron Society of America — Geo. W. Stubblefield, 
Union Stock Yards, Chicago, Secretary. 

Percheron Registry Co. — Chas. C. Glenn, Columbus, O., 
Secretary. 



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